Before I can get into the movie review of Knocked Up, I just want to use this opportunity to say that I'm a big fan of everything Judd Apatow does. He acts, writes, produces and directs. He wrote and directed Knocked Up. The leading man is Seth Rogan, whom I never expected to be the lead in any movie but he pulled it off. Seth Rogan was also good in other Judd Apatow films and TV like The 40 Year Old Virgin and Freaks and Geeks. I did an imdb.com search and found that he was also in two TV episodes of Undeclared. According to my search results, he was only in three TV episodes of Freaks and Geeks. I remember him being in every episode. I guess he made a strong impression on me.

I just learned from imdb.com that Seth Rogan was a co-writer for Superbad and Judd Apatow is the Producer.

It seemed like Judd Apatow simply grabbed actors from other movies and TV shows he did to assemble this. There were actors from TV shows Undeclared and Freaks and Geeks as well as movies The 40 Year Old Virgin, Superbad and probably many others. I've done the research but I give up. It's too complicated. The web he weaves of actors he uses is quite complicated as you will soon find out.

I mention a lot of people's names in this review so there are their pictures for reference.

Judd Apatow



Katherine Heigl and Seth Rogen in Knocked Up



Seth Rogen and Paul Rudd in The 40 Year Old Virgin



Jay Baruchel in Undeclared



Jonah Hill and Michael Cerra in Superbad



Martin Starr, Seth Rogen, Jason Segel, Jonah Hill, Jay Baruchel in Knocked Up.



Steve Carell in The 40-Year-Old Virgin



Justin Long as the Mac (right) from Apple's PC vs Mac commercials.



I recognized a lot of people in this movie but it took me awhile before I could figure out where I had seen them before. The leading woman, Katherine Heigl, looked familiar but only now do I know that I have seen her before on the TV show Grey's Anatomy thanks to imdb.com.



She reminds me a little of Amy Smart, whom would have been great in this roll as well.



Katherine Heigl is one of the only "fresh faces" in this movie since this is her first time working with Judd Apatow (thank you imdb.com).



I recognized Paul Rudd from The 40 Year Old Virgin which is written and directed by Judd Apatow.

I recognize Jay Baruchel from Undeclared (far left below) which is co-Directed by Judd Apatow.



I recognize Jason Segel (bottom right in Undeclared) from Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared, both Judd Apatow TV shows.

I did not recognize Martin Starr but according to imdb.com, he worked with Judd Apatow on Freaks and Geeks and he looked very Geeky. In Knocked Up he tries to grow his beard for a year so you can't really see his face. You probably would not recognize him anyway because the guy is amazing at morphing from a Geek to a Stud and anything in between. He's not someone who will get typecast.

Jonah Hill I recognized and according to imdb.com, was in I Heart Huckabees, Click and The 40 Year Old Virgin (Judd Apatow movie) but I don't remember him in those. He is starring in Superbad (finally got his own movie too! Superbad is produced by Judd Apatow) which I'm dying to see, but not in Malaysia or any other country which censors their movies. The first time I saw Jonah Hill was in Accepted where he screams like a girl when a dead body falls from the ceiling. He was also good in Evan Almighty as the "know everything" intern.

The other star in Superbad, Michael Cerra, will also be acting in a future produced Judd Apatow movie named Year One, so Judd Apatow continues the tradition of re-using his actors. I wonder if we will ever see Katherine Heigl again in a movie written, directed and/or produced by Judd Apatow. I have this feeling she is too beautiful to be re-used. He tends to re-use the more interesting looking people.

Speaking of The 40 Year Old Virgin, the star of that movie, Steve Carell, makes a camio as himself in Knocked Up. He does a good job at acting like he's being himself instead of a character which I imagine must be hard.

Judd Apatow obviously likes to re-use the same actors over and over for his movies. This is actually pretty cool in that it gives his movies a familiar feel to them.

You know the guy in those Apple Commercials that plays the part of Apple? His name is Justin Long and he starred in Accepted (not a Judd Apatow film) but he was in the movie Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie, which went straight to video and was produced by Judd Apatow productions. Paul Rudd and Steve Carell were also in that. Oh so many connections! Justin Long is also in Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, co-written by Judd Apatow, which will be released for Christmas 2007.

Someone needs to create a flow-chart or map showing the Judd Apatow universe and all the connections of the actors he re-uses and how they relate to each other.

OK, onto the review.

My main problem was that I saw this movie in Malaysia where they censor movies big-time! The F-word is cut along with sex and drug use. There must have been over 100 cuts in this movie! This was worse than watching the movie Miami Vice which was cut to pieces because of the F-word, sex and drug use. It's not just seeing sex or seeing people doing drugs, they also censor people talking about sex or talking about drugs. They did miss one F-word which the character spoke in a funny voice so if you're not a native English speaker, you might miss it.

I had seen the un-rated movie previews online so it was funny to see them all cut up … actually un-funny because part of the humor is lost when Ben first learns Alison is pregnant. His first reaction is totally cut out because he uses vulgarity and it was the funniest part!

Seth Rogen and Katherine Heigl in Knocked Up



Compare these two sentences

Censored: Hey, I have a really good idea. Why don't the two of you get into your time machine, go back in time each other.

Uncensored: Hey, I have a really good idea. Why don't the two of you get into your time machine, go back in time and fuck each other.

Obviously the uncensored one is funnier. Actually the next line is the funniest which is "Who needs a time machine?"

The thing I like about Judd Apatow films is that they explore real life situations with humor. He had a great write up Wired Magazine back in June. One of the themes explored in Knocked Up is "should a couple accept each other the way they are or try to change each other"? The movie explores the goals we have for our life versus the curve balls that life throws us. Can two people who are very different make it work as a married couple?

I just watched some a Knocked Up Trailer and saw a scene that was not in the movie and would not have been censored. I understand that the movie is still being cut when the Trailers are released but I always feel a bit deceived when a key scene from a Trailer is missing. They often film the same scene many different ways because they are not sure what will work when the final movie is pieced together so the Trailer may contain a different version of what actually happened.

This trailer is unrated and NSFW. Many parts of this scene were cut for me for example when she says "I'm pregnant" and his reply is "Fuck off".

I think I discovered why Seth Rogan may have starred in this movie. It's because Michael Cera was the original male role but if you watch this video, it appears he and Judd Apatow didn't get along. It was a better movie with Seth Rogan anyway. They are complete opposites and that's what makes it so great. If these two people get make it work, then there's hope for the rest of us!