Knocked Out

I'll admit, I was scared to watch Knocked Up. That I suspected a modern comedy to be too emotionally raw for me shows you what kind of pussy I am. That I was pretty much right shows how well Judd Apatow and team did.

The story: Chubby, unemployed loser Ben Stone (Seth Rogen) meets drunk, attractive Alison (Katherine Heigl) and they have unprotected sex. Once sober, she is not attracted to him, since he is pretty repulsive. He goes back to his loser friends and she goes back to living with her bitchy sister, her long suffering brother-in-law and their cute kids. Then she finds out that she is pregnant.

I had heard a lot about this movie, but a lot of it seemed off base.

1. "Why didn't she just get an abortion? Why wasn't that ever addressed?" Well, it was. It was discussed a lot. Ben assumed she would, but his sweet young punk friend Jay was adamantly against it, offering to help raise the baby. Alison's sister just assumed she would "take care of it" and she is so obnoxious that of course one would do the opposite.
   There was no one reason why Alison wants to have the baby - but it didn't seem arbitrary or mysterious to me.
2. "Why would a hot chick like Alison ever do a slob like Ben?" Ok, that one stumps me. She wasn't just out of his league, they were in entirely different events. I guess you just have to suspend belief - the media filter that makes all women 50% hotter than in real-life.

What I didn't hear about the movie was the references to Swingers: Ben's love of Vince Vaughan, the trip to Vegas, "You're so money and you don't even know it." It shows up mainly in Ben's group of friends - all played by actors who are friends of Apatow, using their real first names. I think a lot of guys really relate to this crew. I certainly did - but I think that my group of friends from a similar period had a few more women in it.

Alison's sister's family was the other pole of this movie. Her husband Pete is a totally sweet guy who she constantly nags, mainly about his secret desire to get some time away from her nagging. It's a shame that she has to be so evil, because her story is a true one as well, that people could relate to, except she is so evil.

I don't entirely get the whole "guys need time with the guys" and "women want to keep men from their friends" themes. My circle of loser friends always welcomed women, although maybe not to the extent of cleaning or putting on clothes. And you know, not all women mind that. Ms. Beveridge, for ex, thought Ben's friends seemed like a lot of fun.

Finally:

• Ben's dad, played by Sam Raimi, is a hoot. The perfect Jewish Buddha about-to-be granddad.
• No, he isn't played by Sam Raimi, he's played by Harold Ramis. Big difference, I guess.
• My favorite character was Martin's creepy girl friend, Jody. But that's just me.
• Alison's sister's daughters are incredibly cute and wise. They are played by her real-life children, by husband Judd Apatow. They steal every scene.

I guess the point of the movie is: It's about the kids. But I would add these morals:

• Women: Don't have sex with strangers when you are drunk. You might not like the results
• Men: If you do manage to have sex with a good-looking woman, try to get her pregnant. It will be harder for her to dump you.