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Writer/director Judd Apatow follows up his hit “slacker” comedy The 40 Year Old Virgin with another refreshingly bold entry in a genre formerly mired in facile, post-Farrelly brothers gross-out. Pudgy, curly-haired Seth Rogen (a charismatic supporting player in Virgin) plays a harmless pothead who impregnates Katherine Heigl’s media career girl during a drunken one-night stand. Prompted by the impending birth to give the relationship a go, our odd couple learn lessons about responsibility and life in general, but to hilarious rather than schmaltzy effect. Married-with-kids Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann (also Virgin alumni) are the foils for the younger pair, and Rogen’s buddies, led by Jonah Hill, the geek chorus. Thanks to quality, near-the-knuckle repartee and believable chemistry between Rogen and Grey’s Anatomy star Heigl (Apatow can certainly write for women), Knocked Up proves that hit comedy doesn’t have to dumb down for its demographic.
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