Knocked Up

Or the movie that gives hope to overweight, ugly guys (not me, I'm gorgeous. What's that face for, cheeky prick?) that they too can pump a hot blonde with cracking front bags with only the help of alcohol. Of course it's wish fulfillment on the scale of Flight Of The Navigator or The Goonies and the plot's pure fantasy (as touchy as the subject can be in America she probably would have had the baby aborted). But then that's what movies are all about so bugger logic and let's judge it based on what it's meant to do; make us laugh.

And it does. Knocked Up's got that loose feel that 40 Year Old Virgin had. Most of the dialogue's improvised by a group of performers who clearly all click with each other, either because of friendship or because they are some of the best comic actors in the business. Even that ride from Grey's Anatomy does the business, even if this is new territory for her. The rest of the cast is made up of Apatow regulars and Saturday Night Live alumni. And then there's Seth Rogen.

Ah Seth. The man may well be set to become the hottest thing in Hollywood, yet he's got a face like fizz and a gut on him. The fact that he is so hot is reason to celebrate. He's done it through talent. He doesn't have the looks usually required to get to the top nor is he freakish looking, the old freak show way of making it. He's an average guy who can act, write and is funny. That's it. We should all be thankful for him.

His performance in Knocked Up is great, as is Paul Rudd's (maybe the finest of the comic actors cutting about Hollywood right now with Steve Carell, not bad for the bloke who pumped Alicia Silverstone in Clueless) but he's an attractive man so he deserves to be shunned in favour of the ugly talent. The rest of Rogen's group are played by a collection of people from Apatow's failed TV shows Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared, as well as the bloke who looks like a younger, uglier Seth Rogen from Superbad. They provide most of the best lines, with a running joke about Martin Starr's facial hair being particularly brilliant.

Of course like 40 Year Old Virgin the movie's a bit long and could certainly have been trimmed, a number of the scenes contribute to the narrative in no way whatsoever, but when you hear the lines that these guys come up with in some of the situations you begin to realise why Apatow was loathe to cut them. Still it could have done with a little trimming to tighten things up a bit.

That said it is easily the funniest film of the year so far. It may work on a slightly ridiculous premise and be narratively flawed but it is excellently played and hilarious. And it heralds the coming of the anti-Cruise, the anti-Pitt, the anti-(insert preening wank's name here) in the slightly flabby shape of Rogen. The fact that his face is being used to sell a movie should be enough for us all to rejoice!