Although not as strong as Judd Apatow’s previous comedy, The 40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up still delivers plenty of laughs without being too shallow or misogynistic. Eight weeks after an alcohol fueled one night stand Allison (Katherine Heigl) realizes that she’s pregnant with Ben’s (Seth Rogan) baby. However, Allison is a correspondent for E! News and Ben is a Canadian stoner who lives in America illegally with his four buddies off a compensation check he got from a minor accident in his youth.

Obviously, the viewer has to go through a suspension of disbelief to accept that this much of a loser could even get into the same club as a correspondent on a cable network but the point of the movie is to entertain, and much of the comedy comes from the polarity of the two characters. That is not to say that the movie is shallow; unlike similar moves that rely entirely on juvenile comedy (Zoolander, Blades of Glory) Knocked Up actually has a solid script and serious underlying themes. The tension between Pete (Paul Rudd) and Debbie (Leslie Mann) over their less than perfect marriage, a stunningly good heart to heart between Ben and his Dad, and an incredibly ruthless conversation between Allison and her mom all contribute to the movies strength.

However, the movie is a comedy before all else and the dialogue in this movie is reminiscent of Kevin Smith; Ben and his roommates riffing on each other is what really makes the movie entertaining, along with a hilarious argument between Debbie and a bouncer. The problem is these moments are too sparse, the comedy is nowhere near as unrelenting as in the 40Year Old Virgin; Apatow is unable to combine the romantic and comedic elements as he did in that film, instead he is forced to go back and forth, resulting in a weaker movie overall. The movie’s only other fault is its predictability; although bizarre the ending of his previous comedy was unexpected, Knocked Up offers little in the way of surprises.

Despite its coarse name and coarser language the movie is actually pretty soft; at the heart of this is Rogan’s performance as a likable loser-but not too likable. He can be selfish, shallow, and oftentimes stupid; but in the end he is able to redeem himself. Allison provides an interesting contrast as a busy professional woman who has sold her private life to her work; unlike Ben she seems to have no real friends, lives with her sister, and besides the one night at the beginning of the movie doesn’t seem to have any romantic relationships. Although they’re both pretty good, it’s the supporting cast that carries the movie, whether it’s the amazingly unprofessional doctors, Ben’s juvenile friends, his laid back dad, Allison’s neurotic sister or even more neurotic bosses (played wonderfully by Kristen Wiig and Alan Tudyk), the supporting cast of this movie gives it equal if not more strength than the lead actors themselves.

The cinematography is pretty good, there is nothing visionary or new presented, but there’s also no distracting film angles and we are allowed to focus on the dialogue between characters. The soundtrack is also pretty good, with a series of popular songs that never interfere but only add to the movie’s action.

Don’t be fooled by the movies name, this is actually a very well done romantic comedy that follows in the footsteps of The 40 Year Old Virgin but can’t quite measure up to its predecessor. Unlike many of the comedies of our time Knocked Up gives us more than juvenile humor in ridiculous situations (although it does have that as well) it explores some deeper themes about relationships that have been left untouched by modern comedy.