Knocked Up Gets Laughs, But Not Longevity

Knocked Up, the most recent comedic installation from Judd Apatow, employs his loose story-telling style, but fails to deliver on true visceral conflict.

Sure, the jokes are funny, the dialog is hilarious, and the set up always pays off. But what 40-Year-Old Virgin had that Knocked Up lacks is depth in plot to elevate a simple story to a new height.



Pot-smoking Ben Stone (Seth Rogen) wants to be present in the birth and life of his first child. When Ben impregnates Allison (Katherine Heigl), a confident career woman who wants nothing more than to lead a successful, empowered life, the movie should have written itself.

But it did not.

So… let’s go back to classic Greek storytelling for a minute.

A story is like a game: two players fight for the same ball. These players are the protagonist and the antagonist. In Knocked Up, Ben and Allison are the two players. The ball is the baby. These players should fight until ultimately one person wins.

Ben is the hero, so it is his destiny to win this game, and the audience finds enjoyment in watching the method in which he will succeed.

The purpose of the antagonist is to put pressure on the protagonist. In romantic comedies, the antagonist is benevolent. Allison may look pretty on the outside, but that shouldn’t affect how strongly she pushes Ben away from his goal in actions and dialog.

Unfortunately for Knocked Up, Allison doesn’t push the conflict. She takes little action to keep Ben out of her life and is far too agreeable when it comes to criticizing the personality traits of a pot-smoking porn addict who is, whether she likes it or not, the father of her child.

If this were a story meeting, we might ask, what could Allison do to keep Ben away? How could she push him, while at the same time contemplate whether he is the right man for her?

A poor example of antagonistic conflict comes eighty minutes into the film. Allison is on the couch, crying and watching TV. Here, she is not appropriately matched with her protagonist. The writers should have gone back to their outline and worked in more solid conflict. Jokes can always dress a scene, but if the story is engaging and funny, it will leave a lasting affect on your audience and give people something to think about on the drive home.

Here are some other warning signs (in addition to a crying couch-potato antagonists) that conflict is not visceral:

• Characters who yell
• Characters who name call
• Characters who “lose it” in the middle of the scene for no concrete reason

If you’re “dressing” dialog with profanity and name calling, take a closer look and see if the characters are saying anything of substance. Sure, profanity and name calling is funny at the end of the scene or in a joke, but if the entire scene is a barrage of useless elevated speech, ask yourself, what are you trying to say?

Conflict should come out of character, and character is motivated by fear. The antagonist taps this fear until the hero is so crazy, he is forced to change his life.

Do that, and you’ll have a story people will want to see.

Laughter fills a moment of silence in the theater, but a good story lingers to keep the audience coming back for more.