"Knocked Up" getting fantastic reviews!- Page 2

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 6/2/07 at 3:41am

I just got back from watching this movie. Tried to get tickets for 11pm showing but it was sold out (a big deal, NOTHING sells out in the college town where I live) so I got the 1am instead. Now, the movie is funny. Having said that, it is SO targeted towards a twenty/thirty-something heterosexual demographic it's a bit ridiculous at times. It can be so transparent in what it is trying to do and who it is trying to appeal.
I found myself rolling my eyes at so many moments. The main character is of course your everyman and the women are this neurotic bitches that ultimately realize they're mistreating their men and need to stop being so hormonal and love them. The film is a love letter to heterosexuality, masculinity (in any way, shape or form), and normality. It will make millions of dollars, be heralded as one of the best films of the year, and everyone is going to love it (there was a full house at a 1am showing...again, a big deal for where I live, and people laughed every other second). However, though it has some clever moments, the film is just a bit too transparent for my taste.

[TheActr97J]

Posted: 6/2/07 at 11:36am

I thought at that Katherine Heigl's character was portrayed very favorably and as a three dimensional woman undergoing this very scary and real situation. She was the one I sympathized with, because it is obvious that the movie is asking the Seth Rogen character to change and grow, not condemning her for being hormonal due to her pregnancy. His character does grow by the end of the movie and you feel like he is ready to sacrifice his bong and his wild lifestyle to be a good father to his child. In my opinion, it is a story about an overgrown little boy being forced to mature and accept resposibility for his own actions.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 6/2/07 at 2:26pm

Saw this blurb by somebody on another board:

there's a bit where Mann's character berates a nightclub doorman who won't grant them entry with "You're a fag! You're a fag wearing gloves and holding a clipboard!" And Heigl just stands there, not saying anything. Yeah, yeah I know she's in character but I find it odd considering Heigl's subsequent actions on behalf of TR Knight that she didn't ask Apatow on set to have her character try to shut her character's stepsister up.

This is a revolting and deeply offensive movie.

What say you, lovers of the movie?

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 6/2/07 at 2:33pm

I think she has been punished enough (the star) as she is dead in real life.

When it comes on cable, will give it a look

Now NAMO, make sure you post what a rotten person I am. To bad I will not see it as I will not be coming back to this thread. I said my piece & on to something else

[Cruel_Sandwich]

Posted: 6/2/07 at 3:52pm

Jesus Christ, Namo. It's a goddamn character.

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 6/2/07 at 4:15pm

Wait . . . who is dead in real life?

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 6/2/07 at 4:18pm

Adrienne Shelly

[StickToPriest]

Posted: 6/2/07 at 4:43pm

1) Mr Roxy, you are thinking of WAITRESS.

2) Now NAMO, make sure you post what a rotten person I am. To bad I will not see it as I will not be coming back to this thread. I said my piece & on to something else

Ummmm....

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 6/2/07 at 4:46pm

I have movies mixed up & I humbly apologize

A lot is going on now capped by Mrs R mother going into the hospital with double pneumonia. I had the movies confused I am sorry

Re the other matter, I decided I do not give a rats behind about NAMO so I cam back. I stand by the rest

[StickToPriest]

Posted: 6/2/07 at 4:49pm

WAITRESS is great. I highly recommend it.

Seeing KNOCKED UP today.

[Raviolisun]

Posted: 6/2/07 at 5:05pm

I really want to see Waitress, too. I love Cheryl Hines.

Posted: 6/2/07 at 5:32pm

Meh. Just saw it. I can see both sides. The Women are all bitches, the guys all lovable slobs-- but I couldn't stand any of them. Paul Rudd was the only character I like and by the end of the film he is so emasucuated and miserable (Though claiming to be blissfully happy) that you sort of wish he would die.

The "Fag" in that scene mentioned above bit me hard. And of course, in Apatow's world none of his characters are REALLY bad, so he has the Black doorman (Who she would have really called a n*, but THAT is a BAD WORD) ACTUALLY THANK HER for her incredibly bitchy tirade and agrees, that yes his is a sad life and he is GLAD she pointed it out to him. Total and complete BULLSH*T.

The film has some great laughs, some funny cameos, but either got edited down from a 16 hour miniseriees or Apatow let the cast make up the plot as they go along. There are a lot of plot points that go NOWHERE (an interminable hunt for "her" gynecologist, a completely random earthquake) but all in all it made me laugh enough I forgive it's shortcomings.

I know Apatow & company are "cool" cuys but her calling him a "fag" for no reason made me wonder about all the other "gay" jokes in his work. And there are a LOT of 'em.
Updated On: 6/2/07 at 05:32 PM

[touchmeinthemorning]

Posted: 6/2/07 at 5:36pm

85 on metacritic.com. those are the best reviews of any major picture this year.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 6/2/07 at 6:01pm

The double use of the word "fag" as well as the suggestive gay jokes that seem to be unavoidable in male camaredie films, really bothered me about this film. It's very problematic in terms of gender politics.

Posted: 6/2/07 at 6:06pm

Yeah Ray, I guess when you put up two hours and 10 minutes of "Women are castrating bitches" you need to reassure all them boys in the audience that ya still want to screw 'em.

[Cruel_Sandwich]

Posted: 6/2/07 at 6:10pm

what made it clear that it was apatow being homophobic and not the characters themselves?

i'm currently writing a screenplay in which a man enters into a fruitful and fulfilling sexual relationship with his (adult) daughter. does that mean i condone it? nope.

[touchmeinthemorning]

Posted: 6/2/07 at 6:13pm

cruel, it has to do with how it is framed by the film. is it for cheap laughs? if so, shame on them. if the characters are being mocked as clowns, it's a different story entirely.

sadly, this film uses the former.

Posted: 6/2/07 at 6:17pm

Cruel I'd say that if you don't want to "endorse" incest, don't have the daughter character take her dad aside to say "You seducing me was the best thing that ever happened to me!"

In this movie, she calls someone a fag and they THANK her for pointing out the pathetic state of their existance. She never shows remorse, no one ever stops her or says "Hey, don't say that!" It's all subjective, of course. But if you don't show any negative response or consequence, you'll come off as endorsing.

[Cruel_Sandwich]

Posted: 6/2/07 at 6:17pm

maybe i shouldn't be debating this as i haven't seen it yet but apatow usually uses gay jokes as a way of making fun of people who use "fag". alas i have not seen knocked up yet.

Posted: 6/2/07 at 6:22pm

Exactly right Cruel, he has, that's what so startled me about this scene. Watch the cut scene of Jonah (?) watching Brokeback Mountain-- it's pretty funny and very gay-friendly actually.

[Cruel_Sandwich]

Posted: 6/2/07 at 6:22pm

Alright, then how do you react to that one scene from ROCKO'S MODERN LIFE in which all the characters chase Rocko at the end of that one episode?

[Cruel_Sandwich]

Posted: 6/2/07 at 6:31pm

maybe i should describe the scene because that description was kind of vague.

keep in mind, rocko is aimed at children:

ROCKO: Well, I've always liked...raaaaainbows!

(Ships horn blows and everyone looks at him in disgust)

HEFFER: Rocko!

MR. BIGHEAD: That's disgusting!

MRS. BIGHEAD: Let's get 'im!

(They form an angry mob and chase him down the street.)

ROCKO: Did I say rainbows? I meant...I meant...dolls! No wait...I meant....

(Episode ends)

To me, I felt like this was the funniest moment in the episode because it trusted its young audience so much with some really heavy undertones. Let's deconstruct:

1) Rocko is the series' everyman. The one the viewers are meant to identify with the most.

2) Every other character is someone that we are meant to like. They're not ordinarily hateful.

3) Chirpy cartoony music is playing during this entire scene, as if to mock the homophobia of the situation

4) Rocko's revelation that he likes rainbows isn't implying anything. He's simply stating something that isn't "manly".

Maybe I'm reading too much into this but this scene gave the child audience a taste of both sides of the spectrum and forced them to choose which was ridiculous and which was normal. It is clear that the homophobia, as cartoonish as it came off as, was clearly the more ridiculous of the two.

By having Rocko literally stand out from the crowd, he was made to look like the only sane voice in a world gone mad.
Updated On: 6/2/07 at 06:31 PM

[MasterLcZ]

Posted: 6/2/07 at 8:33pm

I have no desire to see this film, but I'm facinated at the overwhelming barrage of PR it's gotten in the past few weeks.

I saw an ad for the new Steve Carell film on the street today and I don't recall hearing a thing about it.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 6/2/07 at 9:04pm

Perhaps they should've kept in the much-viewed 'tube presented deleted scene, when BROKEBACK is watched in the wee hours, and we get "I'm pissed. All we see are Ann Hathaway's t-ts. I wanted to see Gylenhaal with a mouthful of Ledger." That might deflect the moment explicated above.

Posted: 6/2/07 at 9:39pm

I have no idea how that scene was to fit in the movie. It made me laugh but it had NO connection with the rest of the film. It does sort of play to the idea that all Ben's friends are self-loathing closeted homosexuals.