What 'Knocked Up' is offering the masses is everything that made Freaks & Geeks so wonderful; real world dialogue, situations, and characters. The humor in Apatow's works don't come from witty puns, gross out jokes, or outright cruelty. Knocked Up is side-splittingly hilarious because we have all been there, and it is the familiarity combined with seeing the same awkward situations we have been in be inflicted on someone else that delights audiences.
In fact, some of the scenarios in 'Knocked Up' hit almost too close to home and you almost laugh out of insecurity. 'Knocked Up' sells so well because Apatow hasn't made a clear-cut antagonist out of any of his characters. In life there are no villains or heroes, there are just people. Sure, some people are more good natured than others, but in general we all want to be liked by at least somebody. The typical antagonists in comedies and other movies these days are caricatures of the people we don't generally get along with in life, taken to ridiculous extremes.
In Knocked Up, the antagonist is different depending on who is watching the movie. For instance, women may see the sloth-like go-nowhere slacker Ben Stone (Seth Rogen) as the antagonist, whereas men may pick the overbearing and nit-picky Debbie as the obvious villain. Moreover, there are probably some guys out there who might despise the heroin, Alison Scott (Katherine Heigl) for being the beautiful girl who winces at the thought of dating a guy who's not in her league. The point is not that there are evil people out there trying to keep us down, but rather that in our daily lives we are going to butt heads with some people and the results can sometimes be hilarious.
Small victories are the key to this movie's success, just as they were in Freaks & Geeks. The characters are not out to become ridiculous successes in life or nab hopelessly unattainable perfect women, but are instead just trying to deal with the curve balls life is throwing at them by trying to to at least not get hit in the face. Too often in movies are we expected to believe that ridiculous success and fortune is within every under-achievers grasp - that you too could become handsome, talented, and rich with a trophy wife hanging on your arm.To those of us who know this is not the way real life plays out, 'Knocked Up' is a breath of fresh air.
Those could just as easily be us and our friends up on the screen, and as the internet video phenomenon continues to mushroom it might as well be. Life is funny just the way it is, especially when the dust clears and you look back on your most awkward moments. Hollywood is trying to hard to manufacture funny lives on screen when all they need to do is take a look at joe-everyday and realize that sometimes our darkest and most difficult moments can be some of the funniest ones too.
Go see 'Knocked Up'. If you like it, check out Freaks & Geeks and Undeclared as well, and you will get more of the same pure and simple brilliance that seems to be an endangered species in hollywood these days.
In Knocked Up, the antagonist is different depending on who is watching the movie. For instance, women may see the sloth-like go-nowhere slacker Ben Stone (Seth Rogen) as the antagonist, whereas men may pick the overbearing and nit-picky Debbie as the obvious villain. Moreover, there are probably some guys out there who might despise the heroin, Alison Scott (Katherine Heigl) for being the beautiful girl who winces at the thought of dating a guy who's not in her league. The point is not that there are evil people out there trying to keep us down, but rather that in our daily lives we are going to butt heads with some people and the results can sometimes be hilarious.
Small victories are the key to this movie's success, just as they were in Freaks & Geeks. The characters are not out to become ridiculous successes in life or nab hopelessly unattainable perfect women, but are instead just trying to deal with the curve balls life is throwing at them by trying to to at least not get hit in the face. Too often in movies are we expected to believe that ridiculous success and fortune is within every under-achievers grasp - that you too could become handsome, talented, and rich with a trophy wife hanging on your arm.To those of us who know this is not the way real life plays out, 'Knocked Up' is a breath of fresh air.
Those could just as easily be us and our friends up on the screen, and as the internet video phenomenon continues to mushroom it might as well be. Life is funny just the way it is, especially when the dust clears and you look back on your most awkward moments. Hollywood is trying to hard to manufacture funny lives on screen when all they need to do is take a look at joe-everyday and realize that sometimes our darkest and most difficult moments can be some of the funniest ones too.
Go see 'Knocked Up'. If you like it, check out Freaks & Geeks and Undeclared as well, and you will get more of the same pure and simple brilliance that seems to be an endangered species in hollywood these days.
