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The Review - AT THE MOVIES with WILLIAM HALL
Published: 23 August 2007

Seth Rogen and Katherine Heigl get a shock

It’s pregnant applause for an odd couple

KNOCKED UP
Directed by Judd Apatow
Certificate 15

CRISP and clever dialogue breathes a welcome gust of laughter into this coming-of-age comedy to chase away any approaching autumn blues, as goofy-looking student Ben (Seth Rogen) unintentionally puts career girl Alison (Katherine Heigl) in the family way – with predictably dire results.
It happens in a one-night stand after they meet at a club. He’s an unlikely choice for a romantic lead – an overweight nerd who prefers to swill beer with the boys, while she’s a high-flyer climbing the ladder in a major televison network in LA. But celebrating a fresh promotion, she downs a few drinks too many and on impulse takes the artless no-hoper back home.
“Last night was great – what I remember of it,” he boasts next morning as he wakes up in her bed.
And her reply: “Did we have sex?”
Well, yes, they did – and the answer becomes clear a few short weeks later when the television station has to start filming her from the waist up to disguise the bump.
In real life Seth made his mark by becoming a radio host while still at high school, so the kid must have had something going for him. His talent shines through as he clashes with her parents (Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann), disguising his own fears about potential fatherhood with a bravura performance that makes you warm to him in his dreadful dilemma.
Will it all end in tears? Judd Apatow’s bouncy direction makes sure it doesn’t.

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