She Likes to Watch

A week after it hit the theaters, I’m still smiling about “Knocked Up.”
Judd Apatow’s latest comedy mixes off-beat, often raunchy jokes with a shaggy-dog love story with surprising heart. Finally, a guy movie for girls.
As the trailer suggests, “Knocked Up” pairs slacker Ben Stone (Seth Rogan) with Alison Scott (Katherine Heigl of “Grey’s Anatomy”).
She’s way out of his league, a blonde goddess who works for E! He’s a scruffy slacker who spends most of his time smoking pot and watching movies with a Greek chorus of geeky roommates.
Then the unthinkable happens: What starts as a one-night stand turns into a full-blown disaster.
To Apatow’s credit, the camera spends just as much time with the pregnant Alison as it does with his goofy but likeable male lead.
As Ben struggles to make the transition from shiftless slacker to responsible dad, Alison worries about losing her job and her independence.
He’s got the munchies. She’s got morning sickness and mood swings.
“Knocked Up” doesn’t offer an easy fix.
Its protagonists are exact opposites plagued by bad examples. Even Allison’s put-together sister (Leslie Mann, Apatow’s wife) and her husband (Paul Rudd) are struggling to find meaning in their marriage.
I won’t go so far as to call “Knocked Up” the next “When Harry Met Sally.”
There’s a wealth of testosterone-driven humor, including a hilarious running gag about beards that I refuse to ruin here. But “Knocked Up” shows a new level of maturity for the man behind “Anchorman” and “The 40-Year-Old Virgin.”
What begins as a cautionary tale for career girls – don’t swap spit with losers – becomes a sweet exploration of that final leap into adulthood.
Chalk it up as one of my favorite movies of the summer.

FUNNY BUSINESS:
The prediction: Comedies, not overblown blockbusters, will top the box office charts this summer.
The evidence: “Spider-Man 3” dropped dramatically its second weekend.
“Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” saw “one of the steepest post-Memorial Day opening drops on record,” watchdog Box Office Mojo reported, pulling in $114 million its first weekend and only $44.2 million the second.
Meanwhile, “Knocked Off” raked in $30.7 million its opening weekend. The movie is already being mentioned in the trailers of Seth Rogan’s next movie, “Superbad.”
Now factor in the fact that “Pirates” cost $300 million to make. “Knocked Up” cost a tenth of that — $30 million.
I’m banking on comedies.

– Sarah L.