Knocked Up

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Knocked Up

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Judd Apatow
Produced by Judd Apatow
Shauna Robertson
Clayton Townsend
Seth Rogen
Evan Goldberg
Written by Judd Apatow
Starring Seth Rogen
Katherine Heigl
Leslie Mann
Paul Rudd
Music by Loudon Wainwright III
Joe Henry
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release date(s) June 1, 2007
Running time Theatrical cut
129 min.
Unrated
133 min.
Country United States
Language English
Budget $30 million[1]
Gross revenue $218.9 million
Official website
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Knocked Up is a 2007 American romantic comedy film from Universal Pictures written, co-produced, and directed by Judd Apatow. It stars Seth Rogen, Katherine Heigl, Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann. The movie follows the repercussions of a drunken one night stand between Rogen's slacker character and Heigl's just promoted media personality that results in an unintended pregnancy ("knocked up" is a chiefly North American slang expression for being pregnant, usually unexpectedly).

Contents

[edit] Plot

Ben Stone (Rogen) is a lazy, immature, yet lovable 23-year-old Jewish-Canadian slacker and alleged illegal immigrant from British Columbia, living off funds received in compensation for an injury and sporadically working on a Mr. Skin-like website with his roommates. Allison Scott (Heigl) is a career-minded woman who has just been given an on-air role with E! Entertainment Television, and is living with her sister Debbie's (Mann) family. While celebrating her promotion, Allison meets Ben at a local night club. After a night of drinking, they end up having sex. Due to a misunderstanding, they do not use protection: 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." The following morning, they quickly learn over breakfast that they have little in common.

Eight weeks later, Allison experiences morning sickness at work, and several home pregnancy tests later, discovers she is pregnant. She contacts Ben for the first time since their one-night stand to tell him the news. Although taken aback, Ben says he will be there to support Alison having the baby. While he is still unsure about being a parent, his father (played by Harold Ramis) tells him that he was the best thing that ever happened to him. Allison's mother tries to convince her daughter to have an abortion, but Allison decides to keep the child. Later, Allison and Ben decide to give their relationship a chance. The odd couple's efforts include Ben making an awkward marriage proposal with a ring box without a ring, promising to get her one someday. Allison thinks it is too early to think about marriage, because she is more concerned with hiding the pregnancy from her boss, who asked her when she first got the on-air job to be "firm" and "tight" for the cameras.

After a somewhat promising beginning, tensions surface in the relationship. Allison is increasingly anxious over Ben's lack of responsibility and has doubts about the longevity of their relationship. These thoughts race through her mind due to her sister's unhappy marriage. Debbie's husband Pete (played by Rudd) works as a talent scout, but he leaves at odd hours in the night which makes her suspect he is having an affair. Upon investigating, she learns that he is actually part of a fantasy baseball draft, which he explains that he needs to have some time free from Debbie's controlling manner. Similarly, Ben feels that Allison is overly controlling. As a result of Pete's confession to his wife, they decide to split up because Pete feels he cannot connect with Debbie and vice-versa. Allison is further convinced Ben will not be supportive after seeing he has not read books on child birth he had bought and promised to read earlier. While driving to the doctor's office, they erupt into a furious argument, resulting in Ben getting out of the car and walking the remaining three miles. Upon finally arriving, he blames her hormones for making her this way, and in response, she tells him that it would be better if they stopped seeing each other.

After the break up, Ben decides to go with Pete on a road trip to Las Vegas. Under the heavy influence of psychedelic mushrooms, they realize their loss and decide to return and take responsibility. Eventually, Pete and Debbie reconcile at their daughter's birthday party. When Ben tries to work things out with Allison, she is still reluctant to get back together with him, since she feels they are different and have little in common. At the same time, her boss finds out about her pregnancy, but this has increased ratings among female viewers. After an unsuccessful talk with his father, Ben decides to take responsibility and starts reading the birth books. He goes to great effort to change his ways, including moving out of his friends' house, getting a real job as a web designer and an apartment with a baby's room. Subsequently, Allison goes into labor and is not able to contact her doctor, forcing her to contact Ben again due to Debbie and Pete's out-of-town trip. Ben also tries to contact her gynecologist, but finds out through his secretary that he is at a Bar Mitzvah in San Francisco, violating a promise to deliver the baby in person.

During labor, Allison apologizes for doubting Ben's commitment and admits that she never thought the man who got her pregnant would be the right one for her. A while later, Debbie and Pete arrive, but Ben, still angry over Debbie's influence on Allison, makes them wait outside, as he wishes to take care of Allison. When Debbie protests, Ben threatens to have her arrested if she does not comply. The couple welcomes the birth of a baby girl (a boy in the alternate ending) and settle down happily together.

[edit] Cast

Apatow and Mann's daughters Maude and Iris play Pete and Debbie's children. Actors playing themselves in uncredited appearances include Jessica Alba, Steve Carell, Jamie Lee Curtis, Andy Dick, James Franco, Eva Mendes, Ryan Seacrest, Dax Shepard, and Jessica Simpson.

[edit] Production

[edit] Casting

Several of the major cast members return 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. From the Apatow-created Undeclared (which also featured Rogen, Segel and Starr as well) there is 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 and their two daughters play her children in the movie.

Anne Hathaway was originally cast in the role of Allison in the film, but dropped out due to creative reasons[2] that Apatow attributed to her disagreement to plans to use real footage of a woman giving birth.[3] Jennifer Love Hewitt, Mila Kunis, and Kate Bosworth auditioned for the part after Hathaway dropped out but ended up losing to Katherine Heigl.[4]

[edit] Reception

[edit] Box office performance

The film opened at #2 at the U.S. box office, earning $30,690,990 in its opening weekend.[5] As of December 30, the film has grossed $148.8 million domestically and $70.1 million in foreign territories,[1] totaling 218.9 million. A company that specializes in tracking responses to advertising spanning multiple types of media attributed the film's unexpected financial success to the use of radio and television ads in combination.[6]

[edit] Critical reviews

Overall Knocked Up was well received by many early critics despite accusations of sexism and pro-life advocacy. For example, the film ended up with a 90% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes from 210 reviews (190 fresh, 20 rotten),[7]

The Los Angeles Times praised the film's humor despite its plot inconsistencies, noting that, "probably because the central story doesn't quite jell, it's the loony, incidental throwaway moments that really make an impression."[8] Chris Kaltenbach of The Baltimore Sun acknowledged the comic value of the film in spite of its shortcomings, saying, "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."[9]

In another such review, Variety magazine, while calling the film predictable, said that Knocked Up was "explosively funny."[10] 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."[11]

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."[12]

[edit] 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.[13][14] 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."[15]

Another Canadian author, Patricia Pearson, has also publicly claimed similarities between the film and her novel, Playing House. She has declined to sue.[16]

[edit] Accusations of discrimination

Mike White (long time associate of Judd Apatow and screenwriter for School of Rock, Freaks and Geeks, Orange County and Nacho Libre) is said to have been "disenchanted" by Apatow's later films, "objecting to the treatment of women and gay men in Apatow's recent movies," saying of Knocked Up, "'At some point it starts feeling like comedy of the bullies, rather than the bullied.'"[17]

In early reviews, both Slate's Dana Stevens and the Los Angeles Times' Carina Chocano wrote articles noting the sexist attitudes propagated by the film, a topic which was the primary focus of a Slate magazine podcast in which New York editor Emily Nussbaum said: "Alison [Heigl's character] made basically zero sense. She was just a completely inconsistent character.... she was this pleasant, blandly hot, peculiarly tolerant, yet oddly blank nice girl. She seemed to have no actual needs or desires of her own...."[18] A. O. Scott of The New York Times explicitly compared Knocked Up to Juno, calling the latter a "feminist, girl-powered rejoinder and complement to Knocked Up."[19]

In a later and highly-publicized Vanity Fair interview, lead actor Katherine Heigl admitted that though she enjoyed working with Apatow and Rogen, she had a hard time enjoying the film itself, calling it "a little sexist" and claiming that the film "paints the women as shrews, as humorless and uptight, and it paints the men as lovable, goofy, fun-loving guys."[20][21] Following Heigl's controversial comments, an online survey of 927 individuals was performed by lifestyle publication Buzzsugar (a media product of Sugar Publishing) in which the majority (59%) of movie-goers agreed that Knocked Up was sexist or could be viewed as sexist (although 38% were not personally offended) while 37% of viewers saw the film as devoid of sexist aspects.[22]

In response producer and director Judd Apatow did not initially deny the validity of such accusations, saying, "I'm just shocked she [Heigl] used the word shrew. I mean, what is this, the sixteen-hundreds?"[23]

Heigl's comments spurred widespread reaction in the media, consisting of a number of personal comments which she was called "assertive, impatient go-getter who quickly tired of waiting for her boyfriend to propose," and comparing her role with her private life and personal relationships.[24][25] Heigl clarified her initial comments to People magazine, stating that, "My motive was to encourage other women like myself to not take that element of the movie too seriously and to remember that it's a broad comedy," adding that, "Although I stand behind my opinion, I'm disheartened that it has become the focus of my experience with the movie."[26]

Meghan O'Rourke of Slate magazine called Heigl's comments unsurprising, noting "Knocked Up was, as David Denby put it in The New Yorker, the culminating artifact in what had become 'the dominant romantic-comedy trend of the past several years—the slovenly hipster and the female straight arrow.'"[27] The Guardian noted that Heigl's comments "provoked quite a backlash, and Heigl was described as ungrateful and a traitor. Some people even suggested she would never work again," remarks which were in retrospect proved incorrect and may well have propelled Heigl's career.[28]

In the wake of mounting accusations of sexism, director Judd Apatow discussed ways he might develop more authentic female characters.[29] New York Magazine quotes Apatow as admitting, "I think the characters are sexist at times, but it's really about immature people who are afraid of women and relationships and learn to grow up," dismissing Heigl's comments saying that they were "taken out of context," noting, "It reminds people that they need to buy Knocked Up on DVD and judge for themselves;" a reversal (i.e., turning negative accusations of misogynism into a positive for monetary gain) which the article praised as "reverse-jujitsu marketing acumen."[30] In response to another one of Apatow's remarks regarding sexist accusations (i.e., "If people say that the characters are sexist, I say, yeah, that's what I was going for in the first part of the movie, and then they change."), another article in New York Magazine noted that Apatow was not directly responding to the nature of the accusations, which were not directed at his characters but rather the movie itself, saying, "the characters aren't all that sexist, but the movie kind of is," adding that, "The problems with Knocked Up have been pointed out by many writers...."[31]

[edit] Pro-life themes

Knocked Up, together with Juno and Waitress were several well-known films released in the USA in 2007 portraying women choosing to give birth to babies resulting from unplanned pregnancies. Hadley Freeman of The Guardian knocked the three comedies for "present[ing] situations where women do not consider abortion as a feasible possibility."[32] Freeman noted that abortion is "something that is portrayed in Knocked Up as the act of selfish women who don't want a swelling belly to impede their clubbing" and thought it "no coincidence that these [three] films are emerging from a country that has had eight years of ultra-conservative Republican rule."[32]

Ross Douthat of The Atlantic Monthly, however, argued that the promotion of pro-life themes was ineffectual due to the unrealistic quality of the films, noting that although "in films like Knocked Up and Juno... even if the movies were mildly pro-life, they weren't effective arguments for an anti-abortion position, because neither film’s storyline actually reflected the experience of most American women who consider terminating their pregnancy."[33]

Apatow pointed out in a DVD commentary track for the film that the decision to have the baby was simply a plot device that set up the feature-length comedy that follows. In a 2007 press junket for the film, he also stated his position on abortion: "I'm pro-choice and I think that nobody should tell anybody else what do with their bodies or their points of view. I think that those decisions are very personal and no one has the answers, so, I'm pretty solid in that position."[34]

[edit] Top ten lists

The film made the top ten list of the jury for the 2007 AFI Awards as well as the top ten lists of several well-known critics, with the AFI jury calling it the "funniest, freshest comedy of our this or any other generation." and a film that "stretches the boundaries of romantic comedies." John Newman, respected film critic for the Boston Bubble called the film "a better, raunchy, modern version of Some Like it Hot." [35]

Early on the film was deemed the best reviewed wide release of 2007 by the Rotten Tomatoes' website (although the review did warn that early reviews such as itself could be "over-enthusiastic.")[36]

The film appeared on many critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2007.[37]

[edit] 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). E! News praised the film's generally unacknowledged success, saying that, "The unplanned pregnancy comedy, shut out of the Golden Globes and passed over by the L.A. and New York critics, was one of 10 films selected Sunday for the American Film Institute's year-end honors."[40]

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, saying that they 'fuck his day up.'

Judd Apatow was nominated for the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay.

[edit] 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.[41]

[edit] DVD details

Several separate Region 1 DVD versions were released on September 25, 2007. There was the theatrical R-Rated version, an "Unrated and Unprotected" version (fullscreen and widescreen available independently), a two-disc "Extended & Unrated" collector's edition, and an HD DVD "Unrated and Unprotected" version.

On December 26, 2007 the "Extended & Unrated" version was released in Region 2.

The DVD sold 3 million copies in its first week of release in the US. Since then it has gone on to sell more than 6.2 million copies and grossed $118 million in revenue.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Knocked Up at Box Office Mojo
  2. ^ 'Grey's' Star Heigl Gets 'Knocked Up'. Zap2it.com. April 18, 2006. Retrieved on April 11, 2007.
  3. ^ Judd Apatow's Family Values. The New York Times. May 27, 2007. Retrieved June 3, 2007.
  4. ^ Knocked Up - Shakefire.com Review
  5. ^ Knocked Up: Daily Box Office. Box Office Mojo (2007). Retrieved on 2007-09-08.
  6. ^ Radio Advertising Helps Wake Up Sleeper Knocked Up, an August 2007 press release by Integrated Media Measurements Inc.
  7. ^ Knocked Up at Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on March 16, 2008
  8. ^ Chocano, Carina. Los Angeles Times - Movie Review 'Knocked Up' is funny, but it's lacking at the core June 1, 2007. Retrieved on October 26, 2007.
  9. ^ Kaltenbach, Chris. Baltimore Sun - Movie Review June 1, 2007. Retrieved on October 26, 2007.
  10. ^ Leydon, Joe. Knocked Up review Variety. March 13, 2007. Retrieved on April 11, 2007.
  11. ^ Knocked Up review on Ebert & Roeper May 27, 2007. Retrieved on August 7, 2007.
  12. ^ Corliss, Richard. Time Magazine - Movie Review June 7, 2007. Retrieved on October 26, 2007.
  13. ^ Eckler, Rebecca: "Is That my Baby on the Screen", page 69-71. Maclean's Magazine, Volume 120 Number 22, June 11, 2007
  14. ^ Complaint for Copyright Infringement: Demand for Jury Trial - legal filing with United States District Court, Central Distric of California, January 3, 2007
  15. ^ Author says 'Knocked Up' ripped off, Associated Press, CNN.com, Published June 7, 2007, Retrieved on June 9, 2007
  16. ^ Pearson, Patricia. Knocked over by Knocked Up lawsuit. Retrieved on 2007-09-01.
  17. ^ New York Entertainment. http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2007/05/mike_white_calls_out_judd_apat.html Mike White Calls Out Judd Apatow
  18. ^ New York Magazine http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2007/06/knocked_up_the_nussbaumsternbe.html ‘Knocked Up’ Brings the Gender Wars Back!
  19. ^ Scott, A. O. (December 5, 2007) "Seeking Mr. and Mrs. Right for a Baby on the Way".
  20. ^ Vanity Fair (December 3, 2007). "Katherine Heigl Talks About Marriage, Ratings Ploys, and Why She Thinks Knocked Up Is Sexist". Press release. Retrieved on 2007-12-27.
  21. ^ Associated Press. Heigl having 'a really hard time' with 'Grey's' affair 2004. Retrieved on December 14, 2007,
  22. ^ Do You Think Knocked Up Is Sexist?. Buzzsugar. Retrieved on 2007-12-30.
  23. ^ HollyScoop Interview http://www.hollyscoop.com/katherine-heigl/knocked-up-director-fires-back-at-heigl_13796.aspx and/or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoCLGOulxP4
  24. ^ Katherine Heigl On How "Knocked Up" Is Sexist, Ratings Ploys And Mormonism?. The Huffington Post. Retrieved on 2007-12-30.
  25. ^ CALM DOWN! Katherine Heigl Did Not “Slam” Knocked Up. The Movie Blog. Retrieved on 2007-12-30.
  26. ^ Katherine Heigl Clarifies Knocked Up Remarks. People Magazine (December 7, 2007). Retrieved on 2007-12-30.
  27. ^ O'Rourke, Meghan. http://www.slate.com/id/2179621/ Katherine Heigl's Knocked Up
  28. ^ Joker in the Pack. The Guardian (2008-03-08). Retrieved on 2008-04-09.
  29. ^ Wloszczyna, Susan. "For Apatow, opportunity knocks," USA Today, 2007-05-06. Retrieved on June 4, 2007.
  30. ^ Youn, Soo. New York Magazine http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2007/12/marketing_genius_judd_apatow_t.html Marketing Genius Judd Apatow Turns Katherine Heigl's ‘Knocked Up’ Slam Into a Sales Pitch
  31. ^ New York Magazine. http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2007/12/judd_apatow_comedy_scientist.html Year in Review: Judd Apatow Is the Man
  32. ^ a b Freeman, Hadley. "A choice that films ignore", The Guardian, 2008-01-28. Retrieved on 2008-02-09. 
  33. ^ Douthat, Ross. "Imagining A Pro-Life America", The Atlantic, 2008-01-29. Retrieved on 2008-02-09. 
  34. ^ 2007 Judd Apatow Knocked Up press junket at Collider.com
  35. ^ AFI AWARDS 2007, from the American Film Institute website
  36. ^ "Knocked Up" is 2007's Best-Reviewed Wide Release Rotten Tomatoes.
  37. ^ Metacritic: 2007 Film Critic Top Ten Lists. Metacritic. Retrieved on 2008-01-05.
  38. ^ David Germain; Christy Lemire (2007-12-27). 'No Country for Old Men' earns nod from AP critics. Associated Press, via Columbia Daily Tribune. Retrieved on 2007-12-31.
  39. ^ Travers, Peter, (December 19, 2007) "Peter Travers' Best and Worst Movies of 2007" Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2007-12-20
  40. ^ E! News. http://www.eonline.com/news/article/index.jsp?uuid=a79c004e-935f-4503-9ba9-2c7bc64913d8 AFI Boosts Knocked Up.
  41. ^ 'SoundtrackINFO: Knocked Up soundtrack'. Soundtrackinfo.com. September, 2007. Retrieved on September 29, 2007.

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
v • d • e
Works of Judd Apatow
Direction
The 40 Year-Old Virgin (2005) · Knocked Up (2007)
Writing
Heavyweights (1995) · Celtic Pride (1996) · The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005) · Fun with Dick and Jane (2005) · Knocked Up (2007) · Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007) · Pineapple Express (2008) · You Don't Mess with the Zohan (2008)
Production
Television
The Ben Stiller Show (1992 - 1993) · The Critic (1994 - 1995) · The Larry Sanders Show (1993 - 1998) · Freaks and Geeks (1999 - 2000) · Undeclared (2001 - 2002)
v • d • e
American films of the 2000s
2000 •2001 •2002 •2003 •2004 •2005 •2006 •2007 •2008