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MOVIE DVD REVIEW: Knocked Up
With about three hours of extended and unrated footage, the special two-disc Knocked Up DVD is bound to impregnate you and everyone else who engages in this glorious batch of extra cursing and laughter. Since there are so many bonus features, I'm only discussing the ones loaded with enough hilarity to inseminate even a football team (and their cheerleaders, too).
After full-fledge slacker, Ben Stone (Seth Rogen) drunkenly meets and engages in sexual activity with career-driven Allison Scott (Katherine Heigl), the two wind up becoming hopeless parents-to-be without any inkling on what to do. Not wanting to bring the child into a broken family, the two decide to attempt at a relationship, which becomes more than a handful. With the trials and tribulations already intact, Ben's stoner roommates (Jason Segel, Jonah Hill, Jay Baruchel and hippie Jesus-looking Martin Starr) and Allison's white-picket-fence-short-of-perfection sister (Leslie Mann) and brother-in-law (Paul Rudd) become the drive and enthusiasm that the two need to sustain any sort of success (or else the baby is pretty much screwed).
There are a total of 14 deleted scenes on the first disc that feature the likes of Eva Mendes, Mo Collins(of MadTV fame), Jonah Hill (watching a child birth on television and talking about his appreciation for Brokeback Mountain), Paul Rudd (making farting look sexy), Katherine Heigl, and for all of you Jason Segel fans, lots and lots of Segel at his finest. There is one scene in particular (that I loved) where Ben (Rogen) wakes up to a bright-eyed Segel just lying in bed with him anxiously waiting to share his future plan to hook up with his unborn child when she turns 18 (granted it's a female and she's hot). "I'll only be 40 when she's 18," is his reasoning for this, which doesn't go over too well. (Oh Jason, I can be your 18-year-old whenever, wherever).
Judd Apatow is a director who loves to give his actors the freedom to ad lib and improvise as much as possible, and with the "Line-O-Rama" feature, most of these off the cuff material and alternative lines can be seen in their entirety. And just like in Superbad's "Line-O-Rama," Jonah Hill outshines everyone (especially in the ping-pong scene where he comes up with different made-up celebrity baby names off the top of his head). But besides the deleted and extended scenes on the first disc, there are even more on the second, which provide additional footage of my favorite OB-GYN, Dr Kuni (can somebody give this man his own show already?!).
Jay Baruchel had made it abundantly clear in the beginning of filming that he was not going to do the rollercoaster scene due to his anxiety attacks, but when time came to shoot the scene (which can be seen in the beginning of the movie), Apatow was not going to let Baruchel off without a meager push and shove, which resulted in Baruchel caving in and going on the rollercoaster once (and never again). This entire moment was caught on tape that became a short documentary for all to see on the first disc. It was painful for me to watch Baruchel struggle with trying to decide whether he should risk disappointing Apatow and the cast by not going on the ride, or risk having a major panic attack in result. I was barely able to enjoy this entire short because I was too busy worrying for Jay's safety and feeling extremely sorry for him (wow, when did I grow such a heart?), but I'm a big pansy who can't handle seeing guys on the verge of tears, so perhaps you will be braver while watching this part (particularly when the cast starts vomiting after seven continuous rides on the coaster).
However, another documentary-like short on the first disc did entertain me, and that was the "Directing the Director" segment. Designed as a mocumentary, this part follows Capote director, Bennet Miller as he oversees Judd Apatow's directing (as requested by Universal Studios to make sure the production of Knocked Up does not get sidetracked). All hell obviously breaks loose, and although the acting is quite unconvincing, the confrontation between Miller and Apatow is hilarious.
"Finding Ben Stone" was by far my favorite feature (and will definitely be yours too, since I have immaculate taste), which is why I saved this one for last. It is yet another mockumentary designed as "raw footage" of the various auditions for the role of Ben Stone before Seth Rogen snagged it. I don't even know where to begin with this one! First of all, Michael Cera, Justin Long, Bill Hader, James Franco and Orlando Bloom are just some of the steamy men (wait, is Cera even eligible to be a considered a man? Or steamy, for that matter?) vying for the role, and second of all, they all get into some form of dispute with Judd Apatow, which is ten times more convincing than the confrontation he had with Bennett Miller (no offense, Ben). Just seeing little Michael Cera sitting across the table from Katherine Heigl as she tells him that she is pregnant with his child is exactly what babies are made of. Beautiful, absolutely beautiful... And I can already feel my baby kicking.
