I avoided watching this film when it came out, because my dislike of The 40 Year Old Virgin soured me on Judd Apatow. But I gave into curiosity, and added it to my Netflix queue, and am currently enjoying it. I can't remember actually laughing out loud at a feature film comedy as I did during this one. The scene in the first Act showing the shenanigans of Ben's friends as he talks on the phone with Allison for the first time since their one-night stand, was just side-splitting. I was a bit disappointed in that Ben and Allison seem to just "fall in love" and make the decision not merely to be parents, but to be a couple, complete with "I love you's", just a bit too easily, but overall, it was a good movie. Perhaps now I'll check out Apatow's other work.
---NITS & NOTES:
Ben ends up not wearing a prophylactic during his one-night stand with Allison. First of all, Why didn't she notice the different sensation? Was it because she was drunk?
Second, I wonder if the reason for this plot point was the pregnancy, or if it was to provide a rationale for the later scene in the diner in which she tells him she's pregnant, which involves Ben ranting about her ignorance of his not wearing protection. The reason I'm pondering this is because if it's the former, it would imply that the writers are unaware that no prophylactic is 100% effective; he could've worn it, and she could still have gotten pregnant. Of course, perhaps it was to have that dialogue in the later scene, though I've heard that the actors in Apatow's comedies often improv their lines, and I wonder if that latter scene's dialogue was even known when the first sex scene was shot...
The American practice of showing a woman with a bra on during a sex scene was really, really stupid. I mean, it's Katherine Heigl. Did Ben have no interest in seeing her topless? And even if we write this off because he was drunk during their one-night stand, what about during their subsequent interlude during her pregnancy? I'm not arguing because I want to see Heigl topless (though I certainly wouldn't mind), I'm just arguing against how silly and unrealistic it is. I understand if Heigl didn't want to go topless, but couldn't she wear pasties, and then place her hands on Seth Rogen so that nothing was visible in the side shot, and then be shot from the neck up in the closeup? I notice in publicity stills from Forgetting Sarah Marshall that the same thing happens in that film: She's not only wearing a bra during a sex scene, she's even wearing a sarong!!!
Ben and his friends are bummed when they find out that their idea for a website is not original, in that there already is such a website called Mr. Skin? So what? Creating something that no one else has may be one advantage of the site to users, but it is far from the only one. The driving force of competition in a marketplace is the ability to offer a better product than the competition. Does the mere existence of Ford preclude the creation or success of General Motors? Did the mere existence of IBM do so with regard to Dell? Ben and his friends could check out Mr. Skin, see what ideas it has that they could incorporate into their own site, and see what they don't like about it, and address those things as well, give it a nicer page design, a cheaper membership price, etc.
When Ben proposes to Allison, he does so with an empty ring case, because he has no money. So how does he support himself?
Okay, I saw the scene just while watching the film's premiere on E! in which Ben explained that he's been living for the past ten years on a $43,000 settlement after a car ran over his foot, and that he's down to $900. But $43,000 isn't going to buy him a house, and we know that that's his house he's living in, because in the film's final Act, we see Martin, Jodi, etc. moving their stuff out as he prepares to take responsibility for his child. So how did he pay for that house?
Another nit: The morning after Ben and Allison first have sex, Ben doesn't remember them having sex, and he doesn't remember that she told him her occupation the previous night at the club. But after she later tells him that she's pregnant with his child, and asks why he wasn't wearing protection, he says it was because he misunderstood her instruction to "just do it" to mean not to wear one, but to simply forego it to expedite the whole thing. So now he remembers that?
When Allison, Ben and Debbie go to the fantasy baseball draft where Pete's been going all along, Debbie asked why the door's unlocked. She asks as if this is some plot point that is eventually going to be answered in a way that makes sense. But it never is. Apparently, it was left open so that the plot could enable the three of them to find Pete. If that's the case, it would've been a better idea if the script had left that question out. If the creators wanted it to make sense, then they should've have the three of them find a sign taped to the door directing visitors to the patio out back, and then have them discover Pete and his friends there, since it wouldn't have required having an unlocked front door, or the three of them essentially committing an act of trespass or unlawful entry.