Here’s the review I sent to Harry Knowles at aintitcool.com–

Hi Harry, This is my first time e-mailing in with a movie review. I was just privy to a screening of Judd Apatow’s KNOCKED UP out here in Schaumburg, IL.

First of all, most importantly I’m here to report that the movie is hilarious and definitely worth the price of admission when it finally comes out in June. That being said there are some faults with the movie that I’m sure I’ll get to. Let me start out by pointing out the obvious flaw: the length. I was not one of those people that bitched about the length of THE 40 YEAR-OLD VIRGIN, I thought the longer those characters were on-screen, the more endearing they became. That almost works in reverse with this movie. There are a lot of characters who are really good in ONE scene. The movie brings most of these characters back for a second scene which is just not as funny. These are mostly appearances by current SNL cast members. That’s another thing that bothered me is thinking “How many of Judd Apatow’s friends can possibly be in this thing?” Katherine Heigl’s character works at E! so there’s a lot of cameo appearances by celebrities as themselves, such as Steve Carell, Ryan Seacrest, and James Franco (Carell and Franco obviously have past relationships with Apatow) that just don’t work. There’s also a lot of unwanted character development with two of Ben’s (Seth Rogen’s) roommates, played by Jay Baruchel and Martin Starr (from UNDECLARED and FREAKS AND GEEKS, respectively) that just lags. The movie is really bloated right now and could use a once-over in the editing room. There are jokes that when you see them, you’ll think “That probably should’ve been in KNOCKED UP: THE EXTENDED UNRATED CUT!” There’s also three separate shots of a vagina (and I’m not just talking bush, I’m talking vulva) which I’m sure will not pass through the MPAA, so that’ll be on the unrated cut as well.

NOW–Here’s a list of what works–

1. Seth Rogen is a really good leading actor. His character always acts believably. There are sections in the movie where he’s doing the same Seth Rogen schtick that made him likable on FREAKS AND GEEKS and UNDECLARED, but this movie brings out some charm that I never thought Seth Rogen could have. He and Katherine Heigl work really well together in this movie, you’ll believe that a hotty like her could have feelings for a hairy f*ck like him.

2. The movie gives us more Leslie Mann. She completely capitalizes on her 5-minutes of genius that she gave us in THE 40 YEAR-OLD VIRGIN. She and Paul Rudd play a married couple with little, nagging problems. It’s a very realistic look at married life. She knocks every line out of the proverbial park, and she would be the funniest thing about this movie if Paul Rudd never existed. He’s outstanding. I don’t know how he and Seth Rogen created their on-screen chemistry, but I thank the movie gods everyday that they did. It’s hard to watch the movie when the two of them are on-screen because my eyes were welling with tears of joy.

3. Jonah Hill–if only for his line when he and Martin Starr are having a wheelchair battle and Hill calls out “I’m going to MURDERBALL you.”

4. The movie does a really good job of resolving conflicts between characters. Actually, I take that back, none of the conflicts of the movie resolve, they fizzle. It’s like Apatow was writing the movie and got himself into a situation where the only way out would’ve been a “Full House-esque” sappy moment, but instead he avoids that pitfall and goes for laughs. For example there’s one scene where all of Ben’s roommates are talking to him about his problems and one of them says “Oh shit, Spider-Man 3 starts in 8 minutes, we gotta go.” CONFLICT RESOLVED!

5. Finally, there’s more of those pop-culture references that are slightly obscure but definitely awesome a la THE 40 YEAR-OLD VIRGIN (”I’d rather watch BEAUTICIAN AND THE BEAST…”) that play for big laughs here. It borders on overkill, but I never stopped laughing at them. Go see this movie.

Bottom line is if they cut out 15 minutes before June 1st I can’t imagine this being a movie that anyone can dislike. If they leave those 15 minutes in it may only play well to fan’s of Apatow and his menagerie of funny motherf*cks.

My rating: 4.0 stars