I got to see a sneak preview of Knocked Up the new Judd Apatow film (40-Year Old Virgin). It's easily one of the better "traditional" comedies I've seen in theatres in a while. This film retains some of the scathingly funny bits from his earlier work, and it still mixes the maudlin with the hilarious, but it does it so much better and the movie flows so well. The runtime was close to, if not a bit over two hours but it flew by.

The story is basically about Ben Stone (Seth Rogen), an overweight twenty-something stoner without much going for him that has a lucky night and beds Alison (Katherin Heigl). A few weeks later he gets a call from her and she tells him he's pregnant, and the movie goes on from there.

Thankfully, it stays centered on the story. In 40-Year Old Virgin I felt like there were too many asides, many of them regarding Smart Tech. While that would've worked for a sitcom, it was a bit too much for a movie. We get it, the guys at work don't care for each other. In this movie, almost every scene works to develop the characters or the story. And this time, the characters are relatable, which I think makes them so much more engaging.

Ultimately, this is not a "can't-miss" must-see-it-in-theatres comedy. To be honest, very few are. But it is extremely hilarious and falls flat in only a few areas:



I recommend it and almost need to see it again to hear all the jokes: many were drowned out by laughter. A-

Thanks for the review. I've been looking forward to this.

This looks fucking hilarious. I can't wait. These guys actually have another moving coming out this summer as well, it has the kid from "Arrested Development" in it.

I love 40 Year Old Virgin, trailer for Knocked Up looked good as well.

Superbad, which is directed by Greg Mottola -- who directed episodes of Arrested Development and nearly a third of Apatow's Undeclared, written by Seth Rogen, and starring a whole slew of Apatow regulars. The audience at Grindhouse loved the trailer for it and it had a better reception than that of the Knocked Up trailer when I've seen it play with an audience.

Both Superbad and Knocked Up are two of my more anticipated films of the summer.

when's this being released?

June 1st I think

Funny trailer. Rogen looks like screech on roids.

its been discussed elsewhere, but rogen is only 25! he looks a good 10 years older.

heigl looks pretty in the movie, but a lot of her looks, IMHO, is smoke and mirrors.

Saw it last night with my girlfriend. She and I both enjoyed Undeclared and Freaks and Geeks is one of my favorite shows (and Stiller is great in its own right).

With my Apatow cred out of the way, I walked out feeling so-so on it. There were some hilarious bits, I will admit, but it stretched on way too long at the end. Any character bits established at the start might have been initially funny, but by the end became extremely annoying.

Contrary to the OP, I felt there were many side plots that were introduced and left with little resolution. It might provide a somewhat funny gag, but it'll add 5 minutes to the runtime. While other sequences that do need explaining to motivate the plot are left out.

Many people complain about the unrated 40 Year Old version cut overstaying its welcome, and I am curious how some trimming would have worked on this.

I will say I did not recognize Martin Starr at all. Maybe Freaks and Geeks is too long removed (it's been almost 8 years!?!?) but he looks like a completely different person!

Also

Oddly enough, that's pretty much exactly one of the jokes in the film

DVD Talk just busted a nut all over the film.

What's worrying me is that the running time of the film is 132 minutes.

I love Apatow, but a lot of the test screenings said that the film needed to be trimmed down to about 110 minutes (or so). I know he may love what he comes out with, but in all honesty, The 40-Year-Old Virgin runs way too long in it's unrated 137-minute cut.

That seems a bit too long for a film like this. Even 2 hours is pushing it.

I am one that hates movies that run too long. It is one of my pet peeves. But I swear I could watch a 5 hour cut of The 40 Year Old Virgin and never get bored. I love the characters so much that I thought the unrated cut improved on the original. I never get tired of those guys. But trust me...I know I am one of the few.

Really looking forward to Knocked Up. If the movie is as half as good as the trailer, I know the wife and I will love it.

This will most definitely be the sleeper hit of the summer. So looking forward to it.

I feel the same way as brianluvdvd about The 40 Year Old Virgin, I wished that movie never ended it was so funny. I definitely want to check out Knocked Up but the commercials have really done nothing for me. I like to think most of the humor will come from stuff not appropriate for television.

I called The 40-Year-Old Virgin one of the best films of 2005.

But when I saw the unrated DVD, it was like someone took my child and beat the crap out of them in front of me. There are some scenes that are funny and probably should've made the final cut, but then there are scenes that are so fucking God-awful that they just come in and kill any sort of pacing and flow the film originally had (such as the Andy porn dream sequence).

The film is a bit long, but it's not too long. I had never seen the original/theatrical 40 Year Old Virgin, and when I saw it on DVD, parts of it were funny, but good lord, some of it dragged. I did not get the same feeling with this one.

Also, the running time is now listed as 129 minutes on IMDB. They may have cut out a few things.

(Please, please, please don't get hyped up about this film. It is very funny but it is not the second coming of comedy. It's simply a delightful and smart little gem.)

Anything with the name Judd Apatow attached is guaranteed to be good.

Heavy Weights
The Cable Guy
The 40-Year-Old Virgin
Kicking & Screaming
Anchorman
Talladega Nights
The TV Set

Just look at that track record -- combine his TV outings (The Ben Stiller Show, The Critic, Freaks and Geeks, and Undeclared) -- and you have a solid line-up. Okay, so he also wrote and produced Fun with Dick and Jane and Celtic Pride, but he can be forgiven for those two trainwrecks.

Thought this was pretty funny...


What an assclown

I definitely prefer the theatrical cut of 40 Year Old Virgin. Much tighter pacing. Apatow doesn't seem to like cutting scenes. I don't think comedies should be 2+ hours. I'm hoping when this releases on HD DVD, that they include the theatrical cut. But you know Universal will probably make it another Unrated, really knocked up Edition.

This is a viral campaign that is making fun of the videos from I Heart Huckabees. Not real.

Thats hillarious , the teams that made Knocked Up and Superbad seem pretty close (both star Rogen and both are produced by Apatow).

You do realize that is a joke, right?

Funny seeing Cera doing this. He was so timid on Arrested Development, it's weird to see him showing any kind of balls.

Only 20 reviews posted, but it's setting at 90% at RM. Roeper and Variety gave very positive reviews.