Knocked Up: A

Knocked Up may be, minute-by-minute and scene-for-scene, one of the funniest films of the last decade. The characters are sharp, the set pieces pop, and the punchlines practically explode. Funny as it is, Knocked Up also is a certifiable great movie. "Why?" you might ask; what makes a fairy-book tale about one bong-loving schlub, Ben (Seth Rogen), getting one career-minded beaut, Alison (Katherine Heigl), pregnant so fresh, funny, and great? The answer lies in one man: Judd Apatow.

He of previous Virgin fame, Judd Apatow has long been renowned for mixing to great effect hilarity and heart. Each of his stories - be it Freaks & Geeks, Undeclared, or The 40-Year-Old Virgin - is propelled in equal amounts by his comedy and his sentiment. What has set him apart though (instead of say, making the next Big Daddy) is the way he has with his films and his actors, coaxing out kernels of honesty that are difficult to fake. Here in Knocked Up he about pulls every little truth there is to see about pregnancy in all of its forms (from the beginning to the very very end).

But alas I wax to long about the man behind the movie, when in fact that movie is just as pleasurable to witness as it is to see Apatow's skills at work. Ben Stone spends his day building an internet database to showcase celebrity nudity in films. Alison spends her days on-camera at E! News. One night - booze is involved here people - the two cross paths and have sex. Eight weeks later, Alison is pregnant. Now the fun starts.

Studious as it may be in the first few minutes, Knocked Up is bust-out-loud funny almost from the word "go". Watching Alison and Ben try and work their way through a delicate situation - trying, really, to fall in love - is an experience not to be missed: sublime and satirical. Equally sublime and satirical is the amount of time the cameras spend on Alison's sister Debbie (Leslie Mann) and her own marriage to Pete (Paul Rudd) and their two daughters. Without losing a single laugh, a mighty tricky feat if I say so myself, Apatow manages to sharply observe seeming domestic "bliss" (it helps too that Rudd and Mann pull out such killer performances).

Rogen and Heigl make for a deliciously entertaining screen couple, both the other's "opposite", and the way each noodles around the idea of happiness and a child is both subtly, pricelessly comic and powerfully real. The plot turns on sharp erudite points (Alison's hormones, Ben's bong-loving) and it never veers off that unique course all its own. Sure the humor can be extraordinarily dirty (get used to the word "vagina") but don't be afraid; for those that have seen Virgin, this is more of the same...only better. And for those that have never witnessed a near comic genius at work, come now. Judd Apatow and his cast - and comedy as a whole - don't get much better.