0620 "knocked up"

I rented the movie “Knocked Up” from Netflix and found out that I enjoyed the storyline in this romantic comedy. The star, Katherine Heigl, plays Alison, an up-and-coming entertainment reporter on “E!” who gets drunk and has a one-night stand with Ben, played by Seth Rogen, which results in a pregnancy. Alison decides not to have an abortion (which would have resulted in a 10-minute movie) and tries to get Ben involved. Ben is a slacker who lives with four buddies who get high together and find ways to let their immaturity rule their lives. But in the end, Ben and Alison find that they need each other as much as their baby girl needs them.

I listened to the audio commentary that was on the DVD. The comments were by Judd Apatow, who wrote and directed the film, and Seth Rogen. It’s the commentary on DVDs that make them really great to watch. I found out that Ben’s four buddies (played by Jason Segel, Jay Baruchel, Jonah Hill and Martin Starr) are actors in their own right but are also buddies of Seth’s. It was decided to make their on-screen chemistry real, so the four buddies used their own first names and the interactions were often unscripted.

I also found out that Leslie Mann, who plays Alison’s sister Debbie, is married to Judd Apatow and is really unlike the character that she plays. She had to funnel her frustration of Paul Rudd, who plays Debbie’s husband Pete, into her character. She also didn’t get half the jokes that were in the movie and had to have them explained to her.