Knocked-Up...Spin-Off?!

[terry78]

Apatow basically makes romantic comedies for men. And in most romcoms, the opposite sex that it is not geared towards does kind of look bad, except for the lead love interest.

 

[Liam_H]

didnt know about that... what did she do? Thought knocked up was great....

She bad mouthed it in a TON of interviews. She kept saying things about how the movie made women look bad.

Considering the the other movies she has made it boggles the mind. I hope she's not in this movie at all. I can no longer watch Roswell the same way without my irritation of her coming through.

 

[Wolfwood]

She bad mouthed it in a TON of interviews. She kept saying things about how the movie made women look bad.

Man, she makes women look bad with her ****** movies.

That last shot with Paul and his legs up in the air. Wow. I was hoping to not have to see a guy in that position again.

 

[Bruce Malone]

It looks okay but yeah i think i'm starting to jump off the apatow bandwagon. That couple were fine in knocked up in the doses they were in but i never really thought about wanting to see a whole movie about them.

 

[Ultimatehero]

Wonder if Seth Rogen and Katherine Heigl will appear at some point.

 

[Shifty]

A much better second trailer for the r-rated comedy.

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[MadVillainy]

idk I like Apatow's other work but this one doesnt excite me that much. Maybe it's because I hated Leslie Mann's character from Knocked Up. She seems to be the same whiny way she was even after the development in the first movie

 

[Nightmare]

Meh.

 

[Sawyer]

Not laugh out loud funny, but it looks promising. Rudd/Mann make a much better pair than Rogen/Heigl.

 

[Maximus One]

I still have some faith in Apatow! You can't deny that his movies and even some of the ones like Forgetting Sarah Marshall were even awesome and look how that turned out! We got Get Him To The Greek because of that movie. Now that being said, I could really care less about Paul and Leslie's characters from Knocked Up but if it looks like it'll be good I'll at least give it a damn good chance to show me if it is or isn't. Im one of the few people that even liked Funny People though so maybe I'm the weird one

 

[mclay18]

There's a clear difference between Apatow-produced films, and films that Apatow had a hand in writing and/or directing. I wish people would stop lumping in Apatow-produced films like Bridesmaids and Forgetting Sarah Marshall when comparing films to his work like Knocked Up and This is 40.

The trailer just leaves me cold. And that's saying something when you have a film with Paul Rudd in the lead. At least it looks substantially better than the lame Funny People, which was really dire.

 

[Gianakin_]

If its duration is less than 4 hours, I'll probably watch it.

 

[Shifty]

THIS IS 40

As a huge Knocked Up fan I was happy to hear Apatow was doing a spinoff film. Though I wish that Rogen and his friends were back (only Jason Segal and Charlyne Yimakes return, Rogen's character briefly mentioned) there was enough to look forward to as Rudd, Leslie Mann and the two girls were funny and characters you wanted to see more of. Plus the additions of Albert Brooks, Robert Smigel and Chris O'Dowd fill in quite well.

Pete and Debbie turn 40 in the same week but Debbie is one of those women that lies about her age and she's quietly turning 38. Pete is having a big party at the house and is mentioned throughout the film, so we're expecting that this will happen later in the film. Debbie decides that the next 20 years will be the best years of their lives and creates a list of things they'll do to make life even better. The exact opposite happens and adds more stress the the family's problems.

This is a spinoff, so it isn't a comedy like Knocked Up. It still has a few raunchy moments but it has a lot more drama. There are parts that do drag and you feel that Pete's birthday party should've happened by now. There is a bit of character development, the change isn't as great as Rogen's was in Knocked Up. Like Knocked Up there are some celebrity cameos and "Friends of Apatow" in minor roles. There is still plenty of yelling and arguing but this time the grandparents and kids get in on it. Megan Fox steals some scenes, Segal is great as always but left you feeling the film could've been better if Jay Baruchel, Jonah Hill, Martin Starr, Seth Rogen and yes Katherine Heigl were in the film. Just given the history, chemistry and that you would expect them to show up to Pete's birthday party. Kind of had the feel of the fourth Indiana Jones film where they write out Henry Jones Sr., introduce new friends and ignore Short Round and Sallah.

Overall the good outweighs the bad. You may see yourself in some of the characters be it Pete, Debbie or the kids and maybe even Pete's Dad played perfectly by Brooks. If you were a big Knocked Up or Paul Rudd fan I would say see it in theatres or perhaps wait until the DVD which will surely have an hour worth of deleted and alternate takes along with a blooper reel. Stay during the credits for an extended blooper and see how many times you laugh.