“Knocked Up’s” knockout mastermind

Television will rue the day it abandoned Judd Apatow, who served as executive producer on three great shows – “Freaks and Geeks,” “Undeclared” (which he also created) and “The Ben Stiller Show” – all of which got ecstatic reviews, underwhelming support from their networks and general disinterest from viewers, and all which struggled to last for a single season. His last TV pilot, “North Hollywood,” didn’t even get that far. Not coddling a guy this talented (he also wrote for “The Larry Sanders Show”) was a cataclysmic mistake.

But it has allowed for two spectacularly funny movies. The other evening, I saw “Knocked Up,” Apatow’s follow-up to his hit “The 40 Year Old Virgin;” Variety is engaging in very little hyperbole when it writes, “Line for line, minute to minute, writer-director Judd Apatow's latest effort is more explosively funny, more frequently, than nearly any other major studio release in recent memory” (the guy may be forgetting “Borat,” but still). This has “word-of-mouth smash hit” written all over it; Apatow will never again have to worry about network neglect or viewer apathy.

“Knocked Up” stars Seth Rogen (who has worked with Apatow on “Freaks and Geeks,” “Undeclared” (on which he also served as a writer), “Anchorman” (which Apatow produced), “40 Year Old Virgin” and “North Hollywood”) as a pot-addled slacker who gets way luckier than he ever expected one evening when he has a one-night-stand a beautiful, driven career woman who celebrates her recent promotion a little too much (Katherine Heigl, and suddenly it’s apparent why she’s wanting either a lot more love or her walking papers from “Grey’s Anatomy” – here, she establishes herself as an A-list romantic-comedy star). A little too much? Make that waaay too much – after all, she sleeps with a portly stoner. And gets pregnant. Complications ensue. And ensue.

It’s hard to overstate just how profanely funny this film is. (One thing I take issue with in the Variety review is what constitutes the film’s funniest sequence. It’s clearly the one in which Rogen and Paul Rudd visit Vegas on hallucinogenic mushrooms and have their minds blown by Cirque du Soleil and, later, their hotel room.) But it’s also the rare poor-taste comedy that actually earns its emotional moments, as well (the other in this category being, well, “40 Year Old Virgin”). Even the most minor roles are richly and hilariously written. And “Virgin’s” insult banter most gratifyingly returns.

And Apatow manages all this with a stable of performers he’s been using much of his career. Herewith, in addition to Rogen, “Knocked Up’s” Judd Apatow Players:

Paul Rudd (“40 Year Old Virgin,” “Anchorman”)
Leslie Mann (“40 Year Old Virgin,” “Freaks and Geeks”)
Jay Baruchel (“Undeclared”)
Jonah Hill (“40 Year Old Virgin”)
Jason Segel (“Freaks and Geeks,” “Undeclared,” “North Hollywood”)
Martin Starr (“Freaks and Geeks,” “Undeclared”)
Louden Wainwright III (“40 Year Old Virgin,” “Undeclared”)
Steve Carell (who has a cameo as himself – I don’t have to tell you what he was in)

With any luck, this bunch will be working together for a long time. Just not for TV: We had our chance, and we blew it.