A Knock Out

Michael and I saw "Knocked Up" over the weekend. What a great movie. (And you know it must be good if I'm willing to overlook yet another "give me the drugs!!!!!"/"I changed my mind, give me the epidural, now!!!!!" childbirth scene -- my No. 1 pet peeve in movies.)

After remembering it was by the same "people" who brought us "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" -- which I loved -- I began to realize there must be someone special behind these stories. Sure enough I found that the common denominator of the two films is writer/director Judd Apatow, who admits that the "romantic comedies for men" label kind of seems to fit. There's something really special and genuine about the way he manages to incorporate a lot of silly, juvenile (read: hilarious) humor into stories about serious topics and have it all remain oddly sweet. Turns out Apatow's no amateur. The 39-year-old Long Island native honed his skills on the early '90s classic "Ben Stiller Show," wrote for Roseanne Barr, obsessed over the Marx Brothers and Steve Martin, watched Woody Allen films endlessly, and found inspiration in the mix of humor and realism in films like "Terms of Endearment" and "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" (God, I wanna marry this guy. Too bad Leslie Mann -- who virtually steals every scene she's in of "Knocked Up" -- is already his wife.) To Apatow, his greatest achievement is "Freaks and Geeks," the beloved cult favorite hour-long TV series that ran for only one season in 1999-2000, which I'm now dying to watch.

If you haven't already, go see "Knocked Up." I can't imagine someone being disappointed. It's just a lot of fun. (AP)