Knocked Up Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		2.5
Extras		4.5
Overall		3.0

Knocked Up Blu-ray Movie Review

It's doggie style. We don't have to go outside or anything.

Reviewed by Sir Terrence October 9, 2008

Writer/Director Judd Apatow continues his successful streak of rather simplistic, but commercially viable movies with this surprise hit Knocked Up. Riding on a string of similar but successful low budget flicks, Apatow has managed once again to prove that his formula of movie making (natural simplistic approach) can actually be quite successful.

Cinema history is rife with films that feature dead beat men being made whole by responsible focused women. Based on history, it’s a winning formula best exhibited by hits such as The Graduate, 10, and Risky Business. When you think this story line couldn’t be utilized again (much like monsters eating people), Apatow turns it into a sleeper hit of 2007 much to the surprise of everyone. Now I am going to be honest, I would not have gone to the theater to see this movie. Upon seeing the previews, I was sure this was just another chick flick put on film. How wrong I was. While I found the dialog at times juvenile and which seriously hampered my ability to relate, this movie comes off as being charming and accessible which fully explains it apparent success.

Ben Stone is a twenty three year old lazy, weed smoking, immature and irresponsible young man with absolutely no direction in life. He is too geeky to get the hot women and go out on dates, so he hangs out with his immature, lazy, weed-smoking roommates not only at home, but apparently when they go to clubs as well.

Alison Scott (Katherine Heigl) is a woman squarely focused on her career, unmarried, and living with her neurotic sister, her husband and kids. One day Alison learns that she will be moving from stage manager, to in front of the camera, and she decides to go out with her sister and celebrate her promotion. That night at the club, Ben runs into Alison by chance, which sets up a series of events that will alter the lives of both Ben and Alison, as both have just a little too much to drink, and head back to Alison’s house to “hang out”. They end up having unprotected sex, and eight weeks later Alison finds herself getting “sick”, and vomiting while on camera at work. In her panic she tells her sister the news, and both run out and buy several home pregnancy test which all point to her being pregnant. Afraid to handle this by herself, Alison calls Ben to tell him the news. Ben thinking he “was the man” for getting a call back from such a hot “chick” is not prepared for the news he is going to get. They agree to meet, and Alison delivers the news to a startled, and slightly angry Ben. Ben realizing he is going to be a father has absolutely no idea of what to do. When Alison finds out Ben does not have a legit source of income, she realizes she may be in this alone. However Alison’s sister steps in and takes over, assisting Alison with Lamaze, and other birthing activities. Meanwhile Ben slowly steps up to the plate buying books, baby clothes, and visiting the gynecologist with Alison. As time progresses, Alison and Ben come closer together, but not without some major problems in their individual lives. Alison’s neurotic sister is having trouble with her husband, and her husband is driven crazy with his wife neurosis, bitching, and complaining about everything. Meanwhile Alison is growing frustrated with Ben’s slow fatherly development. The question begs to be answered; will Ben and Alison make it to the birth of their child, or will they split up leaving the baby with no father.

Knocked Up Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Knocked Up comes to bluray in a one hundred and thirty three minute unrated and unprotected cut, on a BD-50 dual layer disc. It is presented in 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 encode at a 1:85:1 aspect ratio, and you have the ability to toggle between an extended and theatrical cuts of the film. This is a re-encode of the same print master used for the HD DVD release. The transfer is not bad looking, but there are some minor issues we will get to later. The print master of Knocked Up is squeaky clean, with not so much as a blemish to be found. Blacks are solid and stable, but contrast is a bit on the hot side but not intensely so. Colors are a bit skewed towards a yellowing, which in my opinion makes flesh tones look sickly and unnatural. When you combine the yellow tilt with the hot contrast, highlights look flat, lack detail and depth as well. Shadow detail is very good, with fine detail visibly present. There were no video artifacts to be found, but the transfer still is not top notch, and is not representative of what Universal has been turning out with their releases. It's a hit, but truly not a home run.

Knocked Up Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Knocked Up sports a 5.1 24/48 kHz Dts MA lossless soundtrack along with a French and Spanish DTS core tracks at 1.5mbps. As typical for a romantic comedy the soundtrack is very front loaded with just an occasional use of the surrounds and LFE. The club scenes are the only time when things get active in all channels. Dialog is always clean, clear and undistorted. When the music kicks in, the rears and the LFE contribute nicely to the overall atmosphere. You never have to struggle to hear any part of this soundtrack. When compared to the HD DVD version, the bluray version has just the slightest improvement in background noise, and a slightly tighter LFE.

This soundtrack serves this film very well, and out of all of the romantic comedies I have seen (with the exception of several Tyler Perry movies) this soundtrack is one of the better sounding ones out there.

Knocked Up Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

For this Bluray release, Universal has thought to include all of the extras presented on the two-disc DVD release, unlike the HD DVD version where some of the extra's where dropped. All extras are presented in standard definition 480i/MPEG-2 only, but you have the choice of English or Spanish subtitles. Let's dig in to the extras.

This disc features U-control, and there is a lot to see here, and it is nicely paced so you are not complete bored getting through it all. As you view the movie, you are able to see behind the scenes footage, interview with cast and crew, and more. Though I found this to be pretty good, the emphasis on the juvenile jokes was just a bit much for my taste. Also found on the disc is a pretty decent running Audio Commentary, which at times is hilarious and not politically correct that is for sure. I am really surprised that Universal did not do some heavy editing to this commentary; it can be quite over the top at times. Next we have the Featurette "Finding Ben Stone" (29 minutes). This is also a hilarious documentary type extra that I found just a bit on the long side, but funny nevertheless. This is followed by the featurette "Directing the Director" (7 minutes) which I only found mildly amusing, but it quickly became old. Next is the featurette "Gummy, The 6th Roommate" (6 minutes), which is another mock type setup about an alleged sixth roommate. Next up is the featurette "Roller Coaster Doc" (4 minutes) which was a waste of time for sure. Up to bat next is the featurette "Loudon Wainwright III Scoring Sessions (6 minutes), which features the well known musician's recording sessions of the film's score. It also includes performance slices of the tunes "Daughter" and "Grey in LA", and also includes a full version of "You can't fail me now". That is followed by Video Diaries/Kuni files (12 minutes), which features Apatow comments on the finished dailies at the end of shooting each day. Taking center stage next up are the Deleted and Extended scenes (24 minutes) featuring a collection of 16 deleted scenes running nearly 17 minutes. There are some interesting nuggets here, but it obvious to me why these ended up on the cutting room floor. I only found a couple of scenes that could have really contributed to the narrative of the storyline. Next on the long list of extras is Topless Scene: Web Design Company (1 minute), which is nothing more than a bunch of gratuitous nudity edited to get the film a PG-13 rating. I say move along, there is nothing to see here. Following that is the Gag Reels (38 minutes), is not all that funny to me, and was certainly not as funny as the movie of some of the other extras contained on this disc. Featured in the gag reel are Topless scenes, Kids on the Loose (5 minutes), Raw Footage features "Geisha House" (11 minutes), and "Swingers" (7 minutes) which include a lot of unscripted dialog and razing among the cast members. And lastly Audition Reel (5 minutes) featuring Katherine Heigl's original audition tape, and also feature running dialog with Seth Rogen.

Knocked Up Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

While Knocked Up is not quite my taste, I highly recommend it to those who are fans of either Judd Apatow movies, or enjoy Seth Rogen's humor. I will say this though, some the extras on this disc are way over the top for this title, and there inclusion was just not necessary in many cases. I guess this is better than some of the titles I have reviewed which had very little or no extras at all. My recommendation is to get your popcorn and drink, turn down the lights, and be prepared to laugh your head off.