Sunday, May 27, 2007

Judd Apatow’s Family Values

Jeff Minton for The New York Times
By STEPHEN RODRICK

The director of “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” and now “Knocked Up” makes comedies about saving yourself for marriage and staying together for the sake of the kids. What’s so funny about that?

"Both of the films Apatow has directed offer up the kind of conservative morals the Family Research Council might embrace — if the humor weren’t so filthy. In “Virgin,” the title character is saving himself for true love. “Knocked Up,” which opens on June 1, revolves around a good-hearted doofus who copes with an unplanned pregnancy by getting a job and eliminating the bong hits. In each of the films, the hero is nearly led astray by buddies who tempt with things like boxes of porn, transvestite hookers and an ideology about the ladies possibly learned from scanning Maxim while scarfing down Pop-Tarts. By the end, Apatow exposes the friends as well meaning but comically pathetic and steers his men toward doing the right thing."

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