Knocked Up

Rather too often in film journalism, it is claimed that a single movie is an example of an entirely new genre. This tendency was comically embraced two years ago by the makers of Sean of the Dead, who dubbed their own film a "romzomcom." In Knocked Up, according to some sections of the press, we now have a "slacker romcom," which combines Kevin Smith-style insights into male bonding and bong-smoking, with the romantic optimism and some of the structural trappings of a traditional romantic comedy.

Leaving aside the question of whether enough examples of this genre will emerge to form a full canon, I’m happy to say that Knocked Up is considerably more than the sum of its potentially mismatched parts. Anyone who’s seen Judd Apatow’s first effort as writer-director, The 40 Year Old Virgin, will be familiar with his skill at creating convincing dialogue, credible comic characters and surprisingly acute insights within a fairly traditional comedy film format. Here, he uses this talent to even greater effect, in part by dropping some of the forced zaniness to which a lot of US comedies succumb. It’s a hugely funny and genuinely tender film, with plenty of belly-laughs and also some beautifully understated tear-jerking moments.

It’s also refreshingly candid about the experience of pregnancy, many aspects of which are explored with an admirable lack of squeamishness, both visually and verbally. The two main female characters have some killer lines and are very far from being aesthetic or dramatic wallpaper. That said, it’s still very much a guy movie, with the focus on the expecting father and his struggle with responsibility; and whilst it gives some rein to liberal attitudes (for example, abortion is openly discussed), monogamous and heterosexual values are reinforced throughout. It’s not quite as original as some would have you believe, either, sticking pretty rigidly to the three-act structure of set-up, then conflict, then reconciliation, with which fans of both Shakespeare and Richard Curtis will be abundantly acquainted.

But these quibbles should not distract from the fact that this is one of the funniest, most insightful and most likeably earnest US comedies in recent years. Even if Apatow has to plough the "slacker romcom" field alone, it would be great to see more like it.