A couple of weeks ago, Chuckles and I went to go check out an advance screening of Hot Fuzz at the Arlington Cinema n’ Drafthouse with a Q&A with the creators/stars afterwards. It was a pretty good time so when the opportunity to go to another advanced screening this week for the new Judd Apatow comedy Knocked Up came up we jumped at the opportunity.
Chuckles and I got there about an hour and a half early to make sure that we could get some decent seats. After standing around for 30 minutes we were able to start the trek into the theater. After a brief delay as some under-21’s got denied entry, we were seated at our table and waiting for the movie to start.
One of the advantages of seeing a movie at the Cinema N’ Drafthouse is that you don’t have to go up to the concession stand to get stuff. Instead, a waiter comes by and takes your order. Chuckles and I were got some nachos, fries, and pitcher of Harpoon IPA and were waiting for the film to start.
We were pleasantly surprised when about 15 minutes before the movie was to begin, a local standup comic, Justin Schlagel, and entertained us with his routine for about 20 minutes. After Chuckles experience with the DC Onion Kickoff party it was nice to have a nicely participating audience and a comedian who was not completely trashed telling some fairly comical jokes. I definitely enjoyed the jokes making fun of the DC ‘grid’ system.
At the end of his act, it was time for Knocked Up to start. The movie was definitely funny. With some familiar faces from 40 Year Old Virgin I guess I was expecting something that was more similar in tone. While it was at times, I just didn’t get the same feeling walking out. Maybe it was the lack of an ending dance number but it just had a different feeling. Not bad, just more serious I think.
Really, the biggest issue I had with the film is that since its plot is about two people who don’t know each other very well having a baby together and them trying to develop a relationship because of that, many of the notes it hits are similar to those hit in the current season of Scrubs. I know this movie was filmed before these Scrubs episodes were but the fact that the Scrubs finale was broadcasting the same night as we saw this movie, it was particularly fresh in my mind.
I don’t know if Chuckles has a different take on this but I thought it was a solid movie that didn’t quite capture the brilliance of The 40 Year Old Virgin but was still a solid release.
Honestly, the best thing I saw yesterday was the new ‘Exclusive’ trailer for the Transformers movie. Anything that doesn’t have giant robots beating the bejebus out of each other is going to pale in comparison.
UPDATE: Chuckles take in the full post.
Chuckles Take:
I don’t want to damn this movie with the review that it wasn’t as funny as the 40 Year Old Virgin. It wasn’t but that doesn’t mean it was any worse. Knocked Up was plenty funny while still maintaining a genuine empathy for the characters. Basic plot review: boy and girl meet, have sloppy drunk sex, 8 weeks later they learn she is pregnant.
Knocked Up follows the standard romantic comedy style like The 40 Yeard Old Virgin did and the format does not detract at all. While the plot is predictable, the movie is well paced as are the jokes. The movie does not have funny moments so much as being consistently funny straight up to the montage. The comedy was well written and entertaining. Enough of the jokes involve the group of Seth Rogan’s demented housemates and distract from a plot that could easily have devolved into sitcom boredom with a few f-word derivatives tossed in for spice. The Vegas sequence in particular was a highlight. Probably the only sequence that felt vaguely unnatural involved a brief period of one-ups between Seth Rogan and Paul Rudd that felt a bit like fan service for all of us dedicated Apatow fanboys and fangirls.
I was surprised that I did not feel cheated by the sentimentality of Knocked Up. A lot of romantic movies pour on the schmaltz in couple scenes to make up for the ridiculous set pieces or preposterous premises. The inevitable clash between Katherine Heigl and Rogan that leads to the despair and subsequent montage did not grate or seem out of place here. I was again surprised by the phone call scene and Rogan’s ability to pull that off.
The only parts that seemed a little pat were the decision by Heigl to keep the baby, but that is a serious question that would probably have dragged out the film and distracted from the main plot. The other weak point was the seemingly overnight decision by Rogan to turn into the man he suddenly knew he had to be to take care of his responsibilities.
All in all, I recommend this movie to anyone. Maybe not as a first date.
May 18th, 2007 at 12:45 pm
I don’t want to derail the complete lack of conversation our dual post is going to not generate, but I must remain unhopeful about the Transformers movie. I MUST!
May 18th, 2007 at 12:45 pm
Also, I have not seen any of the last few seasons of Scrubs.
May 18th, 2007 at 12:50 pm
And everytime I see that trailer, my pants do a little dance, but I sedate them with a hammer.
May 18th, 2007 at 12:55 pm
you got to go to a Q&A with Simon Pegg?@!! holee crap I’m jealous.
May 18th, 2007 at 1:30 pm
Yeah, actually it was Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, and Edgar Wright.
You’re only jealous until you sit in a room full of internet nerds asking the stupidest questions. I mean it was fun but you really wish some people weren’t huge morons.
Naturally I was too chicken to ask any questions.
May 18th, 2007 at 1:39 pm
Regarding Chuckles feelings about this movie, I’d have to agree. Although I’m not sold on the Vegas scene. It seemed to stick out a lot at me for the movie to have a scene that existed outside the ‘world’ they’d been using in most of the movie.
Having a bit in Las Vegas seems to break the kind of comedy cocoon that had been set up in the movie. I’m also not convinced that it was not a series of events that could not have, for the most part, taken place in the LA environment.
May 21st, 2007 at 11:10 am
The Vegas sequence was a little bit out of the comedy “cocoon” although I might call it the comedy candy shell, but at the same time, seemed like something those two would do to really blow off steam. Their descent into irresponsibility was being reinforced by the other’s actions and what are an A&R guy and a pothead to do but what they did?
All I wanted to ask Pegg, Frost and Wright was, “With a whole room of fanboys and fangirls, how awesome are your lives right now?” Just sort of cut to the chase because that was pretty the essence of all the questions.
May 21st, 2007 at 12:06 pm
AG’s update:
Look if you kids want to go on a date and all, that’s cool. It’s just not RoD’s style to say it was “going to movies” when you sleep over and do each other’s toe nails in the AM.
May 22nd, 2007 at 9:42 am
Maybe we close the comments on the next movie review? Or just lock out AG.
May 23rd, 2007 at 7:45 am
Truth hurts, huh?!
AG would love to get banned. Banned, banned, banned. It would be like so Sean S. style of you.
May 24th, 2007 at 8:51 am
How come fulsome hasn’t hammered you for this sentence:
“We were pleasantly surprised when about 15 minutes before the movie was to begin, a local standup comic, Justin Schlagel, and entertained us with his routine for about 20 minutes.”
About how many minutes was it, again?
May 24th, 2007 at 9:11 am
Sorry, allow me to explain. The movie was scheduled to start at 7:30 PM, the stand up comic came on at 7:15. In this case the ‘was to begin’ should be more read as ’supposed to begin’ but I guess that wasn’t clear. The comic then went for 20 minutes and after that the movie started 5 minutes late.
May 24th, 2007 at 1:06 pm
The Q&A never lives up to the hype, does it? the Jonathan Lethem reading I went to recently was like that.
I would want to ask if they are planning on learning how to write a good ending. Without sounding bitchy and getting killed by aforementioned audience.
I am still insanely jealous.
May 25th, 2007 at 7:15 am
And deservedly so, Kathleen.