Knocked Up

Knocked Up
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Judd Apatow
Written by	Judd Apatow
Produced by	Judd Apatow Shauna Robertson Clayton Townsend Seth Rogen Evan Goldberg
Starring	Seth Rogen Katherine Heigl Leslie Mann Paul Rudd
Music by	Loudon Wainwright III Joe Henry
Distributed by	Universal Studios
Release dates	June 1, 2007
Running time	Theatrical cut 129 min. Unrated/Unprotected 133 min.
Country
Language	English
Budget	$30 million
Box office	$148,597,000

Knocked Up is a 2007 comedy film written, co-produced, and directed by Judd Apatow. It stars Seth Rogen, Katherine Heigl, Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann. It is rated R for sexual content, drug use, and language.

Plot

Ben Stone is a lazy, immature 23-year-old Jewish Canadian slacker in the process of establishing with his friends a website listing nude scenes in film called "fleshofthestars.com. He also happens to live illegally in California, so he does not have to pay taxes. Instead, he lives on a $14,000 settlement after a mail truck ran over his foot. Alison Scott is a responsible, career-minded woman who gets promoted to be an anchorwoman for E! News Live. One night, while she celebrates her promotion, Alison and Ben meet at a club, get drunk, and end up having sex. Due to a misunderstanding, they do not use contraception: Alison uses the phrase "just do it" to encourage Ben to put the condom on faster, which he misinterprets as "a condom is not needed". When the alcohol wears off, they quickly learn they have little in common during breakfast, in which he disgusts her with his lifestyle. Eight weeks later, however, Alison experiences morning sickness during an interview with James Franco and comes to the discovery that she is pregnant. After trying 15 different pregnancy tests with the same result, she contacts Ben to tell him the news. Taken aback, Ben says he will be there to support Alison having the baby. The odd couple's efforts to develop a relationship include Ben making an awkward marriage proposal, without a ring.

After some considerable success at first, tensions surface in the relationship. Alison is increasingly anxious over Ben's lack of responsibility and is paranoid he will leave her, as a result of watching her sister Debbie's failing marriage. Her husband Pete works as a talent scout, but he strangely leaves at odd hours in the night. Upon investigating, it is learned he is part of a fantasy baseball draft, instead of cheating, which he explains he needs to have some time free from her controlling manner. Similarly, Ben feels that Alison is overly controlling, as a result of which the couple separates after a bitter argument. Ben and Pete then take a road-trip to Las Vegas. Under the influence of drugs, they realize their loss and decide to return and take responsibility. Ben goes to great effort to change his ways including getting a real job and an apartment with a baby's room. Subsequently, Alison goes into labor and is not able to contact her doctor, forcing her to contact Ben again due to her sister Debbie and Pete's out-of-town trip. Ben also tries to contact Alison's gynecologist, but finds out through his secretary that he is at a Bar Mitzvah in San Francisco. After leaving a hate-filled message on the doctor's voicemail, Ben increases his efforts to find a doctor that will deliver his child. He eventually finds one, but Alison's wishes clash with the doctor's choice for a smooth and safe birth. Ben talks with the doctor, after which he is willing to do it Alison's way. After a while, Alison regrets her insistence and wants it the doctor's original way after all, but it is too late for that now. She apologizes for doubting his commitment and admits that she never thought the man she loved would be the one who got her pregnant. A while later, Debbie and Pete arrive, but Alison makes Pete wait in the waiting room. Ben then orders Debbie out after assuming she was the one who could save the day. The couple welcomes the birth of a baby girl (a boy in the alternate ending), and settle down happily together.

Cast

• Seth Rogen as Ben Stone
• Katherine Heigl as Alison Scott
• Leslie Mann as Debbie Scott, Alison's sister who, after giving birth twice and nearing 30, has a fear of growing old
• Paul Rudd as Pete, Debbie's husband and a talent scout who feels dominated by Debbie controlling their marriage.
• Maude Apatow as Sadie, Debbie & Pete's oldest daughter at 8 who is mature for her age with a habit of googling topics like murder
• Iris Apatow as Charlotte, Debbie & Pete's youngest daughter, who at 5 is oblivious to the adult situations going on.
• Ben's friends:
  • Jay Baruchel as Jay, an obsessed Star Wars fan who unsuccessfully tries to make a Chewbacca impression and gets pink eye.
  • Jonah Hill as Jonah, Ben's really sex-obsessed friend.
  • Jason Segel as Jason, who is attracted to Debbie
  • Martin Starr as Martin, who decides, for a bet, not to shave for a year
  • Charlyne Yi as Jodi, Martin's girlfriend
• Harold Ramis as Mr. Stone, Ben's dad
• Joanna Kerns as Mrs. Scott, Alison and Debbie's mom
• Alan Tudyk as Jack, Alison's boss who is obsessed with perfection of his employees' looks
• Kristen Wiig as Jill, Alison's boss who is very unsupporting of Alison
• Bill Hader as Brent, Alison's editor
• Ken Jeong as Dr. Kuni, Alison and Ben's gynecologist
• Craig Robinson as the club doorman who alienates Debbie and resents being forced to keep out black partygoers
• BJ Novak as one of the gynecologists Alison and Ben try
• Mo Collins as one of the gynecologists Alison and Ben try

Production

Casting

A good portion of the cast members are returning actors from previous Judd Apatow projects. Seth Rogen, Martin Starr, Jason Segel and James Franco all starred in the short-lived, cult television series Freaks and Geeks which Apatow produced. Rogen and Segel would also later star in the Apatow-created Undeclared with Jay Baruchel and Loudon Wainwright III. Paul Feig, who co-created Freaks and Geeks and starred in the Apatow written movie Heavy Weights, also makes a brief cameo as the Fantasy Baseball Guy. Steve Carell, who makes a cameo appearance as himself, co-starred alongside Rogen and Rudd in Apatow's The 40-Year-Old Virgin, as well as appearing in the Apatow-produced Anchorman. Finally, Leslie Mann, who also appeared in The 40-Year-Old Virgin, is married to Apatow.

Anne Hathaway was originally cast as "Alison Scott" in the film, but dropped out due to creative reasons. Apatow wrote that "Hathaway dropped out of the film because she didn't want to allow us to use real footage of a woman giving birth to create the illusion that she is giving birth." Jennifer Love Hewitt and Kate Bosworth auditioned for the part after Hathaway dropped out but ended up losing to Katherine Heigl.

This movie was originally going to be a follow up to The 40-Year-Old Virgin, having Seth Rogen and his team to reprise their roles as the Smart Tech team.

Product placement

In the film, one of the main characters is employed by a web design agency called Jetset Studios. The name and logo shown belong to a real-life online interactive agency for Apatow Productions. Other product endorsements occurred throughout the film from companies such as Sprint Nextel, Apple, Red Bull, Corona beer, Sierra Nevada beer, Pepsi, Microsoft (Xbox 360), Google, Volkswagen, Spider Man 3, Mr. Skin, Puma and Seventh Generation.

Alleged copyright infringement

Canadian author Rebecca Eckler has written in Maclean's Magazine about the similarities between the movie and her book, Knocked Up: Confessions of a Hip Mother-to-Be, which was released in the U.S. in March 2005. She is pursuing legal action against Apatow and Universal Studios on the basis of copyright infringement. In a public statement, Apatow said, "Anyone who reads the book and sees the movie will instantly know that they are two very different stories about a common experience." Another Canadian author, Patricia Pearson, has also publicly claimed similarities between the film and her novel, Playing House. She has declined to sue.

Reception

Overall, Knocked Up has been well received by critics, in addition to being a box office hit with $148,597,000 - similar to Judd Apatow's previous directing effort, The 40-Year-Old Virgin.

Critical reviews

The film has a 90% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes from 203 reviews (187 fresh, 20 rotten). The film is currently the second best reviewed wide release of 2007, bested by Disney Pixar's Ratatouille, according to the website. In an early review, Variety magazine called the film "more explosively funny, more frequently, than nearly any major studio release in recent memory." Another early review, eFilmCritic stated the following about Knocked Up, "Before you go into Knocked Up, every serious movie fan should make up a list of their favorite comedies of the past two decades. If Old School is on it, you are disqualified. But no matter what is, scratch one off of it – because Knocked Up is going to knock it off eventually and it's earned the spot." Entertainment Weekly praised the film highly, giving it a grade of A, calling it an "extremely rude, extremely funny, irresistible fairy tale about contemporary American frogs, princesses, childbirth classes, and bongs". On the television show Ebert & Roeper, Richard Roeper and guest critic David Edelstein gave Knocked Up a "two big thumbs up" rating, with Roeper calling it "likeable and real", noting that although "at times things drag a little bit.... still Knocked Up earns its sentimental moments".

The Los Angeles Times praised the film's unexpected, punctuated humorous moments despite its plot inconsistencies, noting that, "probably because the central story doesn't quite gell, it's the loony, incidental throwaway moments that really make an impression." Similarly, The Baltimore Sun acknowledged the comic value of the film in spite of its obvious shortcomings: "Yes, the story line meanders and too many scenes drone on; Knocked Up is in serious need of a good editor. But the laughs are plentiful, and it's the rare movie these days where one doesn't feel guilty about finding the whole thing funny."

Lead actress Katherine Heigl admitted that though she enjoyed working with Apatow and Rogen, she had a hard time enjoying the film itself. She called the movie "a little sexist", claiming that "[the film] paints the women as shrews, as humorless and uptight, and it paints the men as lovable, goofy, fun-loving guys." Similarly The Guardian called the film "the latest in a new genre of romantic comedies in which an unappealing hero gets together with a gorgeous, successful woman."

A more critical review in Time magazine noted that, although a typical Hollywood-style comedic farce, the unexpected short-term success of the film may be more attributable to a sociological phenomenon rather than the quality or uniqueness of the film per se, positing that the movie's shock value, sexual humor and historically taboo themes may have created a brief nationwide discussion in which movie-goers would see the film "so they can join the debate, if only to say it wasn't that good."

The film was #10 on Peter Traver's (of Rolling Stone) list of the Best Movies of 2007, tying with the film Juno.

Box office performance

The film opened at #2 at the U.S. box office, earning $30,690,990 in its opening weekend. As of September 17, the film has grossed $148.8 million domestically and $64 million in foreign territories, totaling 212.7 million.

Awards

On December 16 2007, the film was chosen by the American Film Institute as one of the ten best movies of the year, It was one of the two pregnancy comedies on the list (Juno being the other).

The 2007 Teen Choice Awards awarded the film "Choice: Comedy". They also gave Ryan Seacrest "Best Hissy Fit", for his brief cameo, where he becomes self-obsessed and complains about rising young talents.

Music

Strange Weirdos: Music From And Inspired By The Film Knocked Up, an original soundtrack album, was composed for the film by folk singer-songwriter Loudon Wainwright III and Joe Henry.

In addition to Wainwright's tracks, there were approximately 40 songs featured in the motion picture that were not included on the official soundtrack on Concord Records.

External links

• Official site
• Official trailer
• Knocked Up at IMDb
• Knocked Up at AllMovie
• Knocked Up at Rotten Tomatoes
• Knocked Up at Box Office Mojo
• Knocked Up soundtrack at the SoundtrackINFO project
• Knocked Up Reviews at Metacritic
• Knocked Up at the Movie Wiki