No Small Affair

Coyote ugly. Operationally attractive. Bar troll. Shame shower. Beer curtains. Cider visor. Booty stupid.

Take your pick of euphemisms (there are plenty more, but they go downhill from here), each refer to the same thing – the alcohol-laced liaison that is regretted the moment the buzz wears off.

These momentary lapses in judgment usually carry a sentence only as long as the following week (an awkward exchange of numbers, an apology of having to leave rather abruptly. etc).

But what if that mojito-fueled mattress mambo resulted in an unexpected bun in the oven?
That is the premise of the sweet-and-raunchy new comedy from writer/director Judd Apatow (“The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” television’s “Freaks and Geeks”), with “Knocked Up.”

And with this film, Apatow seems to have perfected his formula for blending frat-boy humor with chick-flick sensibilities. Comedically speaking, those two genres sound about as well-matched as Rob Schnieder and Jean Claude Van Damme in “Knock Off.” But with Apatow’s authentic ear for dialogue (from both men and women) and his ability to provide an environment in which every one of his actors can deliver natural, unrestrained performances, the genres could not be better suited for one another.

The same cannot be said for Ben Stone and Alison Scott, though.

A famous philosopher once said “Comedy Isn’t Pretty” (actually, it wasn’t a philosopher, but Steve Martin… and it was just the title of his comedy album). Ladies and gentlemen, I give you exhibit A – Seth Rogan. Rogan plays lead Stone (as well as serving as the film’s executive producer), a fleshy, moley, hirsute man-child with an ungainly explosion of curlicues on his noggin and a penchant for his buds – both human and herbal. He is most likely the last person to bag a gal like Alison Scott (played by Katherine Heigl), a perky, bleach blonde employee for the E! Channel who is at the local trendy club celebrating a new promotion.

Ben and his pals are also carousing the joint and happen upon Alison and her sister Debbie (played by Leslie Mann). They exchange mild barside banter and even though Ben's got considerable self-deprecating charm, his ursine features barely cause Alison to bat an eye.

But, after a few Jell-o shooters are thrown in the mix...

The rest of the film is dedicated to them coping with the results of their coupling. An abortion is never really considered (and it would really limit the film's running time to about a half hour), and the two attempt to get to know one another as their little fling fetus begins to wreak havoc with Alison's hormones.

Alison's only matrimonial model is her squawking sis and her henpecked hubby Pete (played by the always hilarious Paul Rudd), who, after 10 years of marriage, have no idea how to cope with one another. And Ben is just as content hanging with his homies in dilapidated digs that most likely reeks of stale bong water. The layabouts spend most of the day scanning films for nudity to catalogue on their website concept. They include Jason Segel and Martin Starr of the director's “Geeks,” Jonah Hill of “Virgin” and Jay Baruchel of Apatow's other cult (meaning: quickly cancelled) TV show “Undeclared.”

Each of the performers are allowed to freely riff and rip on each other, and every one of them feels authentic.

There are also a number of other cameos throughout that give “Knocked Up” a morning-after glow: “SNL's” Kristen Wiig is sublimely hilarious as Alison's not-so-friendly co-worker, Ken Jeong as the no-nonsense OB-GYN, and, yes, Ryan Seacrest as himself delivering a deliciously caustic rant on the current cult of personalities.

It is all familiar territory, but “Knocked Up's” loosey-goosey semblance and sensitivity to both sexes keep the comedy from being stillborn. And for a film that runs a little over two hours, that is no small feat (forget Hollywood's current smoking ban, they should really crack down on negligent editing).

Rogan, like Steven Carell did two summers ago in “Virgin,”will cement himself as top-tier talent after this film (he has also been a writer for “Da Ali G Show,” “Undeclared” and the upcoming summer release “Superbad”). Equal parts Albert Brooks, Cheech Marin and a dirty mop, Rogan is capable of carving a unique little niche for his easygoing, obscenity-laden shtick.

Heigl is serviceable, and is capable of flickers of wit, but the real female comedy comes from a Mann... Leslie Mann, that is. Her scathing tantrums are given a poignancy that allow her character justification to her sometimes shrewish behavior.

There are too many good lines to spoil for you in a review (besides, you are going to hear many of them repeated ad nauseam by teens and single dudes at bars for the remainder of the summer). I will say that you may never view the Cirque du Soliel the same way again.

“Knocked Up” is the perfect adult antidote to the noisy, showy mayhem that has thus far marked summer cinema. Even though it may go a little past its due date with its running time, it is an emotionally complex, hysterically astute observation of one of life's little unplanned adventures.