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Knocked Up

5/10

Stars: Katherine Heigl, Seth Rogen, Paul Rudd, Leslie Mann, Joanna Kerns, Harold Ramis, Alan Tudyk

Director: Judd Apatow

An interminable romantic comedy about the consequences of an improbable pregnancy, Apatow's follow-up to The 40-Year-Old Virgin , complete with a guest shot from that film's star, Steve Carell, plays variations on similar themes - male bonding, awkward lovers. Like that, this one has some telling dialogue and bright patches, but is at least half an hour too long.

Glamorous Alison (Heigl), celebrating a promotion at her TV station, runs into uncouth, roly-poly Ben (Rogen) - whose only visible occupation is creating a site for identifying when nude scenes occur in movies - at a disco, gets drunk and has unprotected sex with Ben when he can't get the condom out of its packet (well, it's novel).

Deciding to keep the baby, she and Ben have the usual ups and downs before a long-delayed happy fadeout. There are quite a few amusing lines along the way, but the director is clearly set on making a 90-minute film run more than two hours, and the fun gradually gets lost in the morass of his film's massive overlength.

The performers are on the whole asked to over-emote, with the result that no one is particularly memorable.

David Quinlan

USA 2007. UK Distributor: Universal. Technicolor.
129 minutes. Not widescreen. UK certificate: 15.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 2, Violence/Horror 0, Drugs 2, Swearing 2.

Review date: 20 Aug 2007