Knocked Up

With Judd Apatow's schlockbuster, we get a crass course in contemporary comedy. Here, dumpy stoner Ben (Seth Rogen) gets the comely careerist Alison (Katherine Heigl) in a classic boy-bleeps-girl story. An influential humor-monger, Apatow has had his hand in many recent rollicks, Bridesmaids, Anchorman, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Girls, Superbad, and others. His specialty is the domestic drama in which some ritual like courtship collapses under the weight of gross guffaws. In Knocked Up, Rogen's rough-edged romancer gets his vulgarity varnished to a fine sheen. But for Heigl's Alison, the expectant mother must lower her expectations.

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