The other night over pan Asian cuisine my husband asked me what my latest film visit, Knocked Up starring Katherine Heigl and Seth Rosen, was about. My summary to him, “…a one-night stand that results in a pregnancy.”
“Was it really as predictable as it sounds?” he asked.
“No, not at all,” I responded.
That’s the long and short of what I have to say about this movie. However when I consider how this cinematic story line, a recipe for sheer and utter disaster, turns out to be a comedy, I’m compelled to say more.
The recipe: Step 1- Take two complete strangers and carefully place them in a nightclub. Step 2- Pour in a little alcohol. Step 3- Repeat Step 2 about 20 times over. Step 4- Send them home together to have unprotected sex…a not so appetizing dish.
However, this movie is funny…very funny, which becomes increasingly disturbing to me; just as disturbing as when Alison Scot (Heigl), the female lead character, wakes up after her drunken debauchery to find the ever bright and ever sobering sunlight shining on the pale butt of her slightly overweight stranger turned sex partner, Ben. Her tears in the gynecologist’s office are quite understandable when her unwanted friend—consequence—hits like a ton of bricks. But let me not get ahead of myself.
The cast of this film is amazing. Ben’s friends, Jay, Jason, Jonah, and Martin play the funniest bunch of adult boys since Will Ferrell, Vince Vaughn, and Luke Wilson in Old School . Their chemistry together as twenty-something guys who waste their days and nights getting high, playing disgustingly gross games with each other, and working at their voyeuristic “job” serves as one of the movie’s comedic strong points. In fact, the chemistry between these actors is so natural, outrageously funny, and convincing that I wouldn’t be surprised if they were offered their own spin-off. Speaking as a woman though, if this movie is any true life indication of what guys really do when they get together, I'd say I was was better off not knowing.
Alison stays with her sister, Debbie, who is married with two children. Debbie and her husband, Pete, make the idea of marriage as appealing as say… having a baby with a stranger. They offer such a dark and miserable view of married life that it’s a wonder anyone would want to get married, let alone Ben. The kids do a great job of showing how children can reflect the health of their parent’s relationship. The older child, around 7 years old, was humorously dark and morbid; fascinated by murder and death and most representative of her pessimistic, overbearing, suspicious, and freakishly paranoid mother. While the youngest child was giddy, carefree, and unabashedly happy- she most likely represented the marriage in its youthful beginnings.
The film paints a picture of marriage that is neither objective nor balanced, but shallow, a sad and comic trend in movies and television. The filmmakers were shooting for comedy.
This movie does some interesting things with perspective worth noting. Instead of telling this story from one perspective, as most films do, Knocked Up tells the story from the point of view of several represented groups: men, women, and the supposed non-gendered outsider looking in. Therefore, the film becomes not just a movie told from outsider eyes but through the eyes of an immature, soon-to-be father and a naïve, yet promising soon-to-be-mother. These different perspectives eventually form an alternate story line where we get to see how men and women think and experience life crisis. As portrayed through Ben and Pete’s male bonding trip to Vegas, they willfully plunge into their male vices—lap dances from strippers, squandering large amounts of money, and “tripping” on illegal drugs. Through the guise of “having a good time” they become incredibly vulnerable and learn that apart from the women in their lives, there is a void. They learn that their vices offer hollow pleasures when placed up against the stability and love of a committed wife and family (sounds corny but the idea works in the film and in real life).
Likewise, Alison and Debbie go out for a night of clubbing only to discover that they are no longer marketable but rather marked by Debbie’s age and Alison’s pregnancy. They also learn that they can no longer retreat to the vices that once brought them pleasure in their youth and single hood; that their children, marriage, and committed relationships are their new sources of pleasure, which leads me to the true theme of this movie: growing up.
Often in crisis we turn to the familiar seeking validation and comfort, not realizing that time, circumstance, and responsibility has matured us and ushered us into another phase of life where old vices are no longer satisfying or suitable. The movie’s director and writer, Judd Apatow, has learned to put a spin on the coming-of-age story. As he did in The 40 Year Old Virgin , life crisis and consequence usher his characters from childhood to adulthood. Apatow understands that ultimately remaining stagnate works to our disadvantage; that the pleasures of our youth or past seem appealing only because they are familiar; that life is intended to be a natural progression, never intended to remain at one particular stage.
Outside of these points, I call this movie the Pretty Woman for single moms. It is often said that 1990’s Pretty Woman was the prostitute’s Cinderella story. In much of the same way Knocked Up is the single mother’s Cinderella story. This story of poor decisions leading to serious consequences climaxes to a fanciful end that ultimately tries to blend comedy with message.
While Alison experiences a few scary moments regarding Ben’s commitments and economic security, they all seemed like minor incidents compared to the lifetime of consequences most women in her same situation face.
Some women can relish the touching moments of much-anticipated childbirth, knowing that their partners or husbands will step up to the plate and take responsibility. Some cannot.
What is disturbing to me is the movie’s message to the masses. There are many fathers—married and unmarried—who take care of their children. The majority, however, still do not. This past father’s day The Chicago Sun Times reported the arrest of 130 Illinois deadbeat dads who were delinquent in child support payments. In total they owed over $1.5 million to their children.
A sigh of relief comes in the movie that I’m certain most real-life single mothers would like to participate in and experience because the quintessential “single mom’s burden” is after all a shared load…a load that results when two consenting adults make certain decisions together as Ben and Alison did that faithful night. Fathering is becoming increasingly rare and unpredictable behavior in this day and age when over 40% of fathers do not live with their children; where deadbeat dads, child support lawsuits, wage garnishments and thus single family households are common…a sad reality that knocks us all up-side our heads at the end of this funny movie.
Dawn blogs about movies for NBC 5 Chicago .
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VERY GOOD...I WILL CHECK IT OUT. I LIKED YOUR TITLE FOR THE REVIEW!
I'M NOT GOOD WITH EMAIL...SO LET'S TALK. I LIKED YOUR CLOSING .