Knocked Up
Alison & Ben
Ben's Mates
Debbie & Pete
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- Knocked Up, Circa 1850 (16/03/2008)
It seems that somewhere in Hollywood somebody must have had an epiphany of some sorts: Political Correctness, whilst having its merits when applying for a job, is not suited to amuse us. HITCitizen Billy No Box elaborates.
It is just not entertaining if you cannot afford to offend anybody. But offending people, and at the same time being good natured, can be funny. Really funny in fact.
That's why we liked Wedding Crashers, and, to a slightly lesser extent, The 40-year-old Virgin. The same team that brought us the latter movie comes now another R-rated comedy, Knocked Up. To avoid any confusion, the movie is not boxing-themed but rather about the joys and pitfalls of pregnancy, in particular the unplanned variety. Thematically this puts in into the bracket of Nine Months, but where this one was not particularly amusing, Knocked Up is very much so.
Conceiving a child requires (in most cases) two people of opposite sex. In this case we have Ben, a mid-twenty Canadian slacker, who lives with half a dozen equally work-shy friends. Their primary pastime is trying to launch an adult website. Ben's counterpart is the high-flying, TV worker called Alison, who has just been given the promotion to work on camera.
Since their lives are so different, the only place they would ever intersect is a nightclub. Cue a lot of drinks, a misunderstanding about whether to use a condom and the stage is set for the very unlikely pair to experience the joys of impending parenthood. And while this would put strain on any tried-and-tested relationship, it does even more so in the case where the couple has to get used to seeing each other sober and fully dressed first.
As exceptionally simple as the setup is, it works a treat to give room for a heap of scenes which are downright hilarious - whether it is Alison's obsession to find exactly the right gynaecologist only to discover that he is not avalaible when needed, Ben's ongoing struggle with responsibility leading him to flee to Las Vegas on magic mushrooms with Alison's brother-in-law, or the nightclub bouncer contemplating how miserable his job is.
The movie continues to strike the right balance between being extraordinarily vulgar and having its heart at the right spot. We care about the characters and start relating to them, which is so much more than can be said about most big-budget CGI extravaganzas.
And finally, all credit to the filmmakers for depicting a birth scene so realistically (as having been assured by someone who has been through it), and for not having Robin Williams with a Russian accent, or in fact at all.
That's why we liked Wedding Crashers, and, to a slightly lesser extent, The 40-year-old Virgin. The same team that brought us the latter movie comes now another R-rated comedy, Knocked Up. To avoid any confusion, the movie is not boxing-themed but rather about the joys and pitfalls of pregnancy, in particular the unplanned variety. Thematically this puts in into the bracket of Nine Months, but where this one was not particularly amusing, Knocked Up is very much so.
Conceiving a child requires (in most cases) two people of opposite sex. In this case we have Ben, a mid-twenty Canadian slacker, who lives with half a dozen equally work-shy friends. Their primary pastime is trying to launch an adult website. Ben's counterpart is the high-flying, TV worker called Alison, who has just been given the promotion to work on camera.
Since their lives are so different, the only place they would ever intersect is a nightclub. Cue a lot of drinks, a misunderstanding about whether to use a condom and the stage is set for the very unlikely pair to experience the joys of impending parenthood. And while this would put strain on any tried-and-tested relationship, it does even more so in the case where the couple has to get used to seeing each other sober and fully dressed first.
As exceptionally simple as the setup is, it works a treat to give room for a heap of scenes which are downright hilarious - whether it is Alison's obsession to find exactly the right gynaecologist only to discover that he is not avalaible when needed, Ben's ongoing struggle with responsibility leading him to flee to Las Vegas on magic mushrooms with Alison's brother-in-law, or the nightclub bouncer contemplating how miserable his job is.
The movie continues to strike the right balance between being extraordinarily vulgar and having its heart at the right spot. We care about the characters and start relating to them, which is so much more than can be said about most big-budget CGI extravaganzas.
And finally, all credit to the filmmakers for depicting a birth scene so realistically (as having been assured by someone who has been through it), and for not having Robin Williams with a Russian accent, or in fact at all.
Here Is The Writer : Billy No Box
Billy No Box has worked in the city for six years, and currently works in Derivatives for a North American bank. He enjoys playing golf, reading books by Umberto Eco, singing "Copacabana" in the shower and at karaoke bars, and occasionally updating his blog about London and everything else.
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