thoughts on Knocked Up

So after enjoying This is 40 so much the other day, I decided to watch Knocked Up again. When I saw it for the first time back in 2007, I thought it had some funny parts but didn't like it that much as a whole, but after seeing This is 40 I had this suspicion that I might have been too hard on it the first time. It turns out I was; this time around, I had no major problems with the concept or the story, and I liked the characters, and I found the whole thing basically plausible. I think back in 2007 I had a problem with Seth Rogen's character, Ben, but this time, I thought he seemed like basically a nice guy. He has some creepy roommates (seriously, that Jay guy? Gross. And the way Jason fixates on Debbie? And he's her personal trainer in This is 40? How is Pete okay with that?), and he needs to quit smoking pot and get a job, but lots of people live with roommates when they're twenty-three, and he does eventually stop smoking pot and get a job, so...yeah. The following things made me go "Hmmm," however:

1) Allison (Katherine Heigl) REALLY likes Ben, right from the beginning. She stays at the bar with him when her sister has to go, even though they've only been talking for a couple of minutes at that point. She invites him back to her place with no hesitation. Then, after she finds out she's pregnant and they get together to try to get to know each other...one minute they're kissing, and then they cut to them having breakfast with Pete and Debbie's family the next morning and Debbie is giving the girls this elaborate explanation about how he just happened to come over for breakfast, and I'm like, "Wait...what? They slept together again?" I literally rewound to confirm that this is what had happened. Like, it's not like they were just trying to make things work because she was pregnant. She was super into him right away. I don't think I got that the first time around. Hmmm.

2) Debbie flies off the handle at Pete when she finds out that he's been making up excuses to go out and do things like play fantasy baseball and see movies by himself. Allison agrees that Pete doing this was super selfish, and in fact kicks Ben out of her car when he doesn't agree. What the heck? As confirmed in This is 40, Pete is a Lying Liar Who Lies, but...why can't he ever spend time away from the family? Why is this such a big deal? Hmmmm.

3) Seriously...how did Ben not have a job already? He tells Allison this story about how he was hit by a mail truck in high school and got a $13,000 settlement, but...that's not that much money. Hmmm.

Other random observations that did not make me go hmmm:

1) How cute are Sadie and Charlotte in this one? Charlotte's hair is so curly, and she's always wearing some sort of costume instead of real clothes. Adorable.

2) That whole conversation between Pete and Ben when they're on shrooms and talking about all of the different chairs in the hotel room is INTENSE. Pete: "Debbie's and my worst problem is that she loves me so much that she wants me around more. How is that a problem? Why can't I accept her love?" Ben: "You can't accept her love? Why? Why can't you accept her love? She's so pretty, and her hair always looks different, and..." Me: "Whoa, this is getting weird."

3) The first time I saw this in the theater, I recall whispering to my friend Kelly, "That Asian stoner chick has all of my clothes." (The character's actual name is Jodi, BTW.) She does, in fact, wear two shirts from American Eagle that I used to have. In fact, I just got rid of one of them this past summer because the threads started unraveling in one of the sleeves; watching this, I was like, "Man, I wore that shirt for like five years. What a great shirt. I wish I still had it."

Okay. I think that's it.