BEFORE: Damn, I knew I should have watched this right after "Adventureland" - the two films share a whopping 3 actors. Instead I have to link back from "The Breakfast Club" - Judd Nelson was in "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" with Will Ferrell, who was in "Anchorman" with Paul Rudd. And let's send a big Birthday SHOUT-out (#33) to former dough-ball Seth Rogen, born 4/15/1982 (last seen in "Zack and Miri Make a Porno").
THE PLOT: For fun loving party animal Ben Stone, the last thing he ever expected was for his one night stand to show up on his doorstep eight weeks later to tell him she's pregnant.
AFTER: Have I now seen everything that Judd Apatow has directed or produced? It sure feels like it.
There's actually a lot going on here, between the stoner friends and the married friends, and the tribulations of dating, balancing work vs. family, internet start-ups, etc. etc.
But the two main characters, coming from different backgrounds, with different lifestyles and values, end up taking a long time to figure out what they each want out of the relationship, and a long time to figure out how they want to move forward. There's a lot of back-sliding and second-guessing - and if the characters don't seem to know what they want, it's difficult to tell what the movie (and by extension, me) wants for them.
Unwanted pregnancy? That's bad, right? No, wait, it's good. Then it's difficult, so maybe it's bad again? Marriage is not an option, but then maybe it makes sense, but then it doesn't again. You should probably tell your boss you're pregnant - no, wait, that's a bad idea, but then it's good again. (And what kind of boss, even a TV producer, doesn't realize their star reporter isn't pregnant until she's 7 or 8 months along? An idiot, apparently...)
I'm sure it's a very real, real-life situation, but it's not one that I know much about. So I'm going to recuse myself from commenting on most things baby-related. Though I did plan to watch them in a row - "Baby Boom", "Baby Mama" - now I'm revising the plan. Heck, "Juno" was like movie #3, and look how long it took me to get back to the topic.
Also starring Katherine Heigl, Paul Rudd (last seen in "Role Models"), Leslie Mann (last seen in "Stealing Harvard"), Jason Segel (last seen in "I Love You, Man"), Jay Baruchel ("She's Out of My League"), Jonah Hill ("The Invention of Lying"), Martin Starr (last seen in "Adventureland"), Bill Hader (ditto), Kristen Wiig (ditto), with cameos from Harold Ramis, Joanna Kerns, Ken Jeong ("Role Models"), Alan Tudyk, Craig Robinson (last seen in "Miss March"), BJ Novak ("Inglourious Basterds"), Steve Carell ("Date Night"), Adam Scott, James Franco, Andy Dick, Ryan Seacrest.
RATING: 6 out of 10 pregnancy tests (how many do you need to take, already?)
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