Extremely raunchy romantic comedy about a slacker (Seth Rogen) and a fetching blonde (Katherine Heigl) who meet at a Los Angeles nightclub and then try to deal responsibly with the consequences. Director-writer Judd Apatow pushes the envelope on a number of fronts and while his beauty-and-the-geek story contains some genuine wit and positive sentiment, the amount of obscene material and the generally degrading tone of the discourse washes way any laudable message. Constant rough and crude language, pervasive coarse sexual and scatological humor, unmarried sex, frequent drug use and drug references, condom use, abortion discussion, rear male and upper female nudity, explicit shots of childbirth, and some ethnic slurs. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is O -- morally offensive. (R) 2007
Full Review
Out-of-wedlock pregnancy is just the tip of the iceberg. "Knocked Up" (Universal) may well be the raunchiest mainstream romantic comedy ever released. All the genuine wit and positive sentiment in the beauty-and-the-geek tale gets washed away by an onslaught of obscene material.
Writer-director Judd Apatow ("The 40-Year-Old Virgin") pushes the envelope on a number of fronts. Describing the objectionable content as quantitatively or qualitatively gratuitous would be inaccurate because it's essential to his brand of humor.
Structured like a classic romantic comedy, the plot's tangents and asides are designed to appeal to a media- and entertainment-obsessed segment of the population reared on explicit cable television shows and rap music.
Slacker Ben (Seth Rogen) is comfortable hanging out in Los Angeles with his twentysomething pals. While smoking copious amounts of pot and engaging in inane competitions, they plan to launch a movie-related Web site. Fetching blonde Alison (Katherine Heigl) works at the E! cable TV channel. Celebrating her promotion to on-air talent, she goes clubbing with her married sister, Debbie (Leslie Mann), and meets Ben. Although Alison is out of his league, they have an inebriated encounter and spend the rest of the movie dealing with its consequences.
Most of the film's comic allusions are to movies and television programs from the last 25 years and these characters exist in a media-saturated, pop-culture bubble.
To his credit, Apatow doesn't oversell the fairy-tale romance dimension of the story with a pat ending.
What's most troublesome about "Knocked Up" is the degrading tone of the interpersonal discourse. Taking responsibility for one's child is a laudable message. Unfortunately, this moral is affirmed using a harsh mode of communication. There are simply too many expletives and verbal putdowns for it to be uplifting.
The film contains constant rough and crude language, pervasive coarse sexual and scatological humor, unmarried sex, frequent drug use and drug references, condom use, abortion discussion, rear male and upper female nudity, explicit shots of childbirth, and some ethnic slurs. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is O -- morally offensive. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R -- restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.
No comments:
Post a Comment