Knocked Up

The ultimate Oh Crap moment.


Knocked Up is a romantic comedy directed by Judd Apatow (The 40-Year-Old Virgin), starring Seth Rogen (Pineapple Express, Observe and Report) and Katherine Heigl (Grey's Anatomy, Twenty Seven Dresses.) The film received a theatrical release in the United States in June of 2007, opening to a strong box-office turn-out and positive reviews from many industry critics.

Ben Stone (Seth Rogen) is a carefree stoner who lives with his eccentric group of friends. He has no job, no money, and very little ambition. In fact, his main concerns in life are getting high, and working on a website that he and his buddies designed which catalogs the nude scenes of female celebrities in popular cinema. Little does he know that his life is about to be irrevocably changed when he goes out to a club one night and meets...

Allison Scott (Katherine Heigl), who is an up and coming entertainment journalist for the E! television network, out celebrating her recent promotion to an on-camera position. Though young and attractive, Allison has had little time for dating as her focus has been entirely on work and advancing her career. The two meet while trying to get the attention of the club's bartender, and they hit it off. Several hours (and many drinks) later, a tipsy Allison invites Ben home with her, where they have what they believe to be a drunken one-night stand.

The next morning, Ben and a remorseful Allison say their good-byes, thinking that they will never see each other again. This plan is drastically altered when, 8 weeks after her encounter with Ben, Allison starts feeling ill in the mornings and she panics when she realizes that she missed her period last month. A few dozen pregnancy tests later, her worst fears are confirmed: she's pregnant, and the only man that could possibly be the father is the last man she would ever see herself having a long-term relationship with.

Knocked Up is a fun and quirky comedic portrayal of a young couple with totally opposite lives, dreams, and personalities, and how they react to the life-altering news of an unexpected pregnancy. The film delivers the signature sardonic humor that one can expect from director Judd Apatow, and throws in a few heart-warming moments for good measure. Knocked Up and Apatow received several awards nominations in 2007, and the film wound up on several critics "Top Ten movies of the year" lists.

Tropes used in Knocked Up include:
  • Ambiguously Gay: Jonah in a deleted scene.
  • Babies Make Everything Better: Over the course of the film, Allison's pregnancy transforms Ben from a hopeless stoner with no future into an at least passable father figure.
    • A better example of Tropes Are Not Bad than most uses of this one though. The movie takes great pains to show that Ben has to really work to sort out his life, instead of simply becoming a father and fixing his life instantly. It's more of a low-key version of Earn Your Happy Ending.
  • Brain Bleach: "I shouldn't have gone in there!"
  • But We Used a Condom: While Ben was drunkenly fumbling to put a condom on before their encounter, he misread Allison's frustrated protest of "Just do it already!" to mean something else entirely.
  • Cluster F-Bomb: Ben's rant at the missing doctor. Just when Allison is going into labor.

Ben Stone: Hey Doc Howard, Ben Stone calling, guess what the fuck's up? Allison is going into labor and you are not fucking here, you know where you're at? You're at a fucking Bar Mitzvah in San Francisco you motherfucking piece of shit, and you know what I'm gonna have to do now? I'm going have to kill you, I'm gonna pop a fucking cap in your ass. You're dead, you're Tupac, you are fucking Biggie you piece of shit, I hope you fucking die or drop the chair and kill that fucking kid... I hope your plane crashes, peace fucker!

  • Coming of Age Story: Ben is almost hopelessly immature in the beginning of the film, but he soon has to face the reality of being a parent.
  • Did Not Do the Research: A scene shows Pete doing a fantasy baseball draft. He says a week earlier that he went to see Spider Man Three. Spider Man was released in May and most fantasy baseball drafts occur in March.
  • Exact Words: "Just do it already!"
  • Five-Man Band: Ben and his friends as much as a group of stoners can be
  • Good Girls Avoid Abortion: Allison's mother mentions the possibility of abortion, but she decides to bring the baby to term.
  • Hollywood Pudgy: In-universe example. When Allison's boss gives her a promotion, he asks her to "tighten up", aka lose weight. Allison is by no means pudgy.
    • The guy from American Idol playing... well... himself. But doing one of his other jobs.
  • Law of Inverse Fertility
  • Meaningful Name: Ben Stone.
  • Mistaken for Cheating: Pete.
  • Mood Whiplash: Purposefully invoked while Ben and a heavily pregnant Alison are trying to have sex. Ben is afraid that he'll hit the baby in the head with his penis, and after convincing her to go doggie-style ("we don't have to go outside or anything") he feels the baby kick his hand and freaks out. All very amusing, but the scene ends with a distraught Alison promising him that he'll never have to do it again.
  • Morning Sickness: The vomiting Machete happens while the female lead is conducting an interview with James Franco, who assumes it's a prank.
  • Nobody Thinks It Will Work: He's an overweight pothead layabout. She's a hot media figure. They are both the best thing to ever happen to each other.
  • No Pregger Sex: Ben has this fear in the middle of doing the deed.
    • That didn't stop him from multiple attempts, of course...
  • Paedo Hunt: Debbie uses the internet to locate registered sex offenders in the neighborhood, convinced that they pose a threat.
  • Precision F-Strike: While the movie has really filthy dialogue, hearing Ryan Seacrest curse in the movie is really surprising.
    • "Well... fuck!" by Paul Rudd's character who barely curses in the movie.
  • Shiksa Goddess: Allison to Ben.
  • Spiritual Successor: Rumor has it that this film became this when scheduling conflicts prevented it from being a direct sequel to the successful Apatow film The 40-Year-Old Virgin, which Rogen had a supporting role in.
  • Take That: In a deleted scene, Jonah goes off on a big spiel about how pretentious Brokeback Mountain is.
    • "Matthew Fox, you know what's interesting about him, right? Nothing."
  • This Is Sparta: "My room, your area, stay in your area, stay out of my room, back... the... fuck... off."
  • Three-Month-Old Newborn: Attempted aversion/bizarre example: Judd Apatow wanted to shoot an actual birth; Anne Hathaway is said to have turned down the project because of this. Apatow abandoned this plan when he realized that he would need a worker's permit for the unborn child.
  • Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: A pretty big example, with the chubby Ben Stone also being a gigantic loser in addition to being far less attractive than Katherine Heigl. This doesn't help the perceptions that the movie is sexist.
    • Although the movie is aware enough to point this out (Ben even remarks "You're prettier than I am!") and most of the characters wonder What Does She See in Him?. It is one of the film's strengths in that it does a good job showing their relationship all the way, in that Allison is willing to give him a chance and Ben does his best to be there for her once he gets the news about being an impending father.
  • Watch It Stoned: Used in-story when, during their Vegas jaunt, Ben and Pete take psychedelic mushrooms before seeing Cirque Du Soleil's Mystere.
  • Yaoi Fangirl: Fan boy actually. One of Jonah's major complaints about Brokeback Mountain in the deleted scene is the significant lack of graphic sex between the two leads.
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