Stephanie Zacharek is explicitly comparing Knocked Up to Preston Sturges comedies.

That uncertainty is what links it to the great American romantic comedies: It's not as elegant as, say, "Holiday" or "The Lady Eve" or "The Palm Beach Story," but it's wise enough to know that the false promise of happily ever after is more depressing than it is uplifting. Better to acknowledge the bumpiness of the road ahead than to fool yourself into believing you can iron out its kinks.

I think she's dead-on here. Knocked Up is too raunchy to work like The Lady Eve or The Palm Beach Story, both of which were sex comedies of a different sort, but it shares the sex-with-consequences sensibility of The Miracle of Morgan's Creek with the broad pleasures of 80s sex comedies (I'm thinking Porky's), but also with a grown-up take on parenthood that I can't recall seeing in any movie before. There's a very warm embrace of humanity in the movie that reminds me of the greatest humanist director, Renoir, specifically the hijinks of Boudu Saved From Drowning. I think that's where I am: half Preston Sturges, one quarter Porky's, and one quarter Renoir.

I don't want to ruin anything for anyone, but since it's a comedy about pregnancy, I'm going to assume that y'all know it winds up in a delivery room. That scene was just incredible, somehow combining slapstick with the very real confusion and beautiful grossness (by which I mean everyone is born in blood and struggle) of natural childbirth. It has an unwavering belief in the realness and decency of even the most minor of supporting cast, and the overall effect is profound. I'm a sap these days, I know, because when my family is expecting a baby, any images of childbirth cut straight to my weepy emotional place, and that's exactly what this incredible scene does.

There's several other points where the character's reality are realized in a way that few comedies could handle. My favorite is a moment where Paul Rudd's character, holding a ridiculous fairy-tale castle-shaped ice-cream cake for his daughter's birthday, learns what his wife and sister-in-law really think of him, and in, like, three seconds, he registers the incredible hurt of this and moves on. If the movie weren't so insanely funny and light on its toes, it could easily play like an agonizingly detailed examination of marriage and relationships. That's a rare and awesome thing.

Stephanie Zacharek is explicitly comparing Knocked Up to Preston Sturges comedies.

OMG I am even more excited to see it now!!!

Going to see two movies tomorrow (with ChiKat!!)--Paris je t'aime and Once. Last time I've been to a first-run theater was with the kids and Mom at Christmas (Night at the Museum), and the last time I've paid for a first-run ticket was more than likely sometime in 2005.

Paris je t'aime and Once

Oh, so jealous! Once was so wonderful, and I've been wanting to see Paris Je T'aime for almost a year now.

Saw The Prestige last night, after having seen The Illusionist a month ago or so. Am remarkably meh on both of them, but much more so on The Prestige. Am now convinced that all magicians are absolutely amoral jackholes and need to be shot.

But--but--Anthony Blake!

(Points awarded to the house of any who get the ref)

Saw The Prestige last night, after having seen The Illusionist a month ago or so. Am remarkably meh on both of them, but much more so on The Prestige.

I also just saw The Prestige on Wednesday after seeing Illusionist a month ago or so. I guess I liked both about the same amount-- beautifully shot, engaging plotting, some nice lead roles-- but The Prestige never seemed to heighten the game. The stakes seemed exactly the same throughout the movie, so it all felt a little flat. I liked the way the plot worked out in Prestige though. It was satisfying even though we worked it out at some point midway through.

We saw The Prestige and The Illusionist with roughly the same interval between as you, Juliana. I thought The Illusionist was pretty bad, but compared to The Prestige, it was goddamn brilliant.

xpost - seems like a month is about the norm.

Sail and I saw The Illusionist (or was it The Prestige??) a month or so ago and were both very meh.

Though we did spend the next hour or so, each on our laptops, researching the Austro-Hungarian empire and WWI and stuff and calling the interesting bits back and forth. Muy Buffista.

(And FTR, Franz-Ferdinand's life - and death - would make a much more interesting movie than either of the above.)

I saw them in theatres pretty close together and preferred The Prestige, mainly for the cast. I spent the majority of both mentally willing the movie to GET ON WITH IT ALREADY AND STOP ACTING LIKE WE DON'T KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON BECAUSE WE FIGURED IT OUT AN HOUR AGO, GODDAMNIT.