Number 2900: Comedy, Action and Romance Blend Seamlessly in Season One of Chuck

January has always been a bit of a dreary month, coming as it does after all the excitement and wonder of Christmas, and usually feeling like one long stretch of piercingly cold weather. But in recent years, I’ve come to look forward to January as a time for my family – including my brother, who’s home for the first two weeks of the month before heading back to college – to hunker down and spend our evenings bonding over great stories, especially those stretched out over the course of one or several television seasons. These days, I associate January primarily with TV-on-DVD marathons, so when I was browsing Amazon shortly after Christmas and found a killer deal on the first three seasons of Chuck, I took a leap. After all, I loved the one episode I saw a couple years back, and not just because of Dom Monaghan. Plus, I trust the taste of those I know who have praised the show. I figured I was past due for getting swept away in it myself, and by the end of the first scene I was confident I’d made a sound investment. So I now present my 2900th post…

Chuck, created by Chris Fedak and Josh Schwartz, stars Zachary Levi as Chuck Bartowski, a geeky, sweet-natured computer technician who lives with his sister and works at the Buy More, a fictionalized version of Best Buy, as a Nerd Herder (a label that simultaneously spoofs the Geek Squad and tips a hat at The Empire Strikes Back). There’s not a lot of excitement in his life until he opens an email from his former roommate and finds his brain embedded with millions of coded images containing thousands of government secrets. Now, he’s got two secret agents on his tail at all times, and it’s not enough for them to just keep an eye on him so that valuable information is protected. Chuck is in a unique position to help them track down the baddies and rescue their victims, so he soon finds himself caught up in a wild world of espionage, full of danger and deceit. And he still has to keep up with his day job and keep his nearest and dearest from becoming too suspicious.

When it comes to the action, the intrigue, Chuck’s insatiable desire to help people and the need for secrecy wreaking havoc with his personal life, I was reminded a lot of the first season of Smallville, in which Clark Kent is always rushing off to save the day and leaving his friends in the lurch. It’s a painful position to be in, but it’s the price you pay for being a superhero. Chuck’s “superpower” is his ability to draw unconscious connections between people and events. He never can tell what may cause a flash of realization, but the thousand-yard stare is a dead giveaway that something strange is cooking in his mega-processor of a noggin. Beyond that, Chuck has nothing but his own wits and charm, along with two very capable wingmen, to help him escape life-threatening situations week after week. There’s a lot of action, and sometimes it can get pretty tense. At the same time, however, the main tone of the show is humorous, and even much of the violence has a comical edge to it, whether it’s engaging in a deadly duel with mops and plastic forks for weapons or knocking a guy out with a microwave oven.

The show deftly juggles genres while almost invariably keeping a light-hearted tone. Even the most touching or dangerous moments are soon punctuated by some element of humor. Chuck is an incredibly lovable character, a fundamentally decent guy who cares deeply about his sister and best friend and who always wants to do the right thing, even if he knows it will come at a cost to his personal happiness. But he’s also incredibly funny, and a lot of that comes down to Levi’s expressive performance. He’s got a remarkably pliable face, and just a glance at his goofy grin or panicked jaw drop can be enough to set off a case of the giggles. Chuck also has the tendency to stammer and babble when he’s jittery, which is often. Sometimes just his way of wording things cracks me up; I think my favorite line of the season from him is when he asks, after a heart-to-heart with his sister, “How would you feel about a brother-sister hug situation right now?”

At first, I didn’t think I was going to like Ellie (Sarah Lancaster) very much, as our first introduction to her is when she finds Chuck hiding from his own birthday party, to which she has invited all of her doctor friends in hopes that he will find a potential love interest. While it was a nice gesture, it seemed like she was going to be the kind of sister who’s always nagging her brother to be something other than what he is. But that really doesn’t turn out to be the case at all. They move in different social circles, certainly, but Ellie loves Chuck just the way he is, and she’s really a very good sport most of the time. It soon becomes clear that these two would do just about anything to ensure each other’s happiness and well-being.

The dynamic among Chuck’s closest companions reminds me a lot of Freaks and Geeks, the short-lived but exquisite high school dramedy about high school students in the beginning of the 1980s. It’s so easy to imagine 27-year-old Chuck as a grown-up version of Sam Weir. He’s good-natured, kind-hearted and just awkward enough for it to be endearing. Many of Chuck’s passions appeared on that very show or probably would have if it had lasted long enough, since the 1980s was such a hotbed of geeky activity. There are more recent references, such as various video games and, much to my delight, a blink-and-you-miss-it allusion to LOST, but most it dates back a while. We’ve got nods to, among other things, TRON, Dune, Lord of the Rings, Star Trek and Star Wars. Indeed, it was Star Wars that really made me notice how compatible Sam’s world is with Chuck’s. At one point in the season, Chuck’s best friend from childhood, Morgan Grimes (Joshua Gomez), appeals to him with, “Help me, Chuck Bartowski. You’re my only hope.” In Freaks and Geeks, Sam uses the very same tactic on Neil, who sadly responds, “You had to go and quote the Star Wars…”

Like Neil, Morgan is much shorter than his best friend. He has a tendency to wear out his welcome, and he overestimates his own comic abilities. Instead of making people laugh, he often winds up making them want to throttle him. This is especially true of Ellie, since Morgan’s crush on Ellie is every bit as intense as the one Neil has on Sam’s sister Lindsey, and despite the omnipresence of her buff boyfriend, he’s not afraid to show it. But Morgan and Chuck have been friends so long and are so compatible that they are truly in sync with each other, and for all of Morgan’s shortcomings – he’s easily the most annoying character on the show – this is a guy who will always have Chuck’s back, even at great inconvenience to himself. The friendship is definitely a two-way street.

Ellie and Chuck are both as different from each other and as close as Sam and Lindsey. Meanwhile, though they couldn’t look less alike, in his interactions with Chuck and Morgan, her boyfriend Devon (Ryan McPartlin), otherwise known as Captain Awesome, reminds me a lot of offbeat guidance counselor Mr. Rosso. He’s so easy-going that it seems nothing could ever possibly faze him. He’s a little cheesy and a little overinvolved, but this is a guy you really want to have in your corner when you’re in a jam, even if his solutions are sometimes a bit uncomfortable.

The show’s romantic element comes in mostly with Sarah Walker (Yvonne Strahovski), a CIA agent who has been assigned to Chuck’s case. Tough, pretty and kind, she wins Chuck’s heart immediately, and it seems pretty clear that she has taken a shine to him as well. But even though they’re posing as a couple for the sake of their cover, genuine romantic involvement doesn’t seem to be in the cards for them. I find Sarah to be extremely likable and an even better sport than Ellie. But my favorite character on the show next to Chuck is surly NSA agent John Casey (Adam Baldwin). It wasn’t until after I’d watched a few episodes and checked him out on IMDb that I realized Baldwin had played antagonistic redneck outlaw Jayne on Firefly; he reminded me more of Frederic Lehne’s single-minded Marshall Edward Mars on LOST. This is an unsmiling, ruthless assassin who always seems to be in a foul temper, and yet I find his sarcastic, deadpan humor consistently hilarious, and as someone who is often most interested in characters in need of redemption, I love those moments when we get to see his buried sensitivity break through his carefully built-up armor.

While part of Sarah’s cover involves working at the hot dog shop across the street, Casey works with Morgan and Chuck at the Buy More, along with an assortment of oddball employees, including power-hungry Harry Tang (C. S. Lee), who nobody seems to like; skeezy buddies Lester Patel (Vik Sahay) and Jeff Barnes (Scott Krinsky); and wild child Anna Wu (Julia Ling). By far my favorite member of the Buy More supporting cast, however, is the boss, Big Mike (Mark Christopher Lawrence), who is grumpy and sardonic but ultimately a softie. He likes to hear himself yell, but his outbursts are more funny than threatening, and he has an amusing obsession with fish and Danish.

Because this is a spy show, there is a certain amount of violence involved, and while there’s never anything too graphic that remains on the screen for more than a brief moment, there are multiple injuries and a few deaths as well. However, nearly all of the deaths occur at the hands of the villains, usually not in the presence of the main characters. There are scenes in every episode to get the adrenaline pumping, but they are generally handled with a careful balance of action and humor so that even the tensest situation doesn’t seem too dire. I also appreciated that while there is innuendo on the show, it’s pretty understated for a spy comedy, and there’s little overt sexuality on display. There’s not much profanity to speak of, either, and for the most part, the show feels pretty wholesome, especially because of the way it lauds close bonds of friendship and family.

Nathan’s back at college now. Meanwhile, my parents and I still have two seasons to go and a dilemma as we consider whether we want to wait for him to finish playing catch-up. I suspect that any resolve we have on that score won’t last long; this show is just too addictive to leave it hanging for several months, and I’m sure that when he does come back this summer, I won’t mind watching those episodes with him again as he enjoys them for the first time. Neither my dad nor brother had any interest in the show when they saw it advertised, but by the end of the first episode, they were just as hooked as I was. We’ve found a new series to add to our list of favorites, and that’s cause for celebration. Three cheers for Chuck!

Halloween TV Specials

A list of some great Halloween specials.

Come Sail Away With Dennis DeYoung of Styx (Erie, PA 8-20-10)

Celebrate Erie, the late-summer festival formerly known as We Love Erie Days, is a pretty big deal in my hometown of Erie, Pennsylvania. In recent years, it has become even more popular, thanks in part to the inclusion of major musical acts performing for free on the main stage on Friday or Saturday night. The past five years have seen such bands as the Bacon Brothers, Three Dog Night and the Beach Boys, and last night, the headliner was Dennis DeYoung of Styx.

I’m a child of the 80s, but I spent my elementary school years listening to music from the 60s and early 70s, so Styx was only just barely on my radar. Most of my familiarity with the band comes from the short-lived series Freaks and Geeks, which makes clever use of several of the band’s songs. My favorite incorporation of music in the series is the scene in the first episode in which Come Sail Away, the only Styx song I previously knew, plays at a school dance. It’s such an epic-sounding song, I thought it would be fun to hear in concert, but I wasn’t sure if that one hit was reason enough to brave the crowds. However, we went downtown last night to meet up with my aunt and uncle, who were planning to stay for the concert, so we tagged along. I’m glad we did.

Dennis DeYoung is a spry 63-year-old who seems to have a boundless energy matched by the instrumentalists and vocalists backing him up. I didn’t catch their names last night, but his website lists them as percussionist Tom Sharpe, guitarist / vocalist August Zadra, guitarist / vocalist Jimmy Leahey, keyboardist John Blasucci and bassist / vocalist Craig Carter. As usual, a massive crowd showed up, and we were far enough from the stage that all we could see were the spotlights, but thanks to the jumbotrons, we had a clear view of what was happening, and the sound carried to the back very well.

I often had trouble understanding the lyrics, but that tends to be the case at large outdoor concerts when they’re singing songs I don’t already know. When DeYoung spoke, however, I understood him clearly, and he was pretty chatty. He came across as quite affable and seemed to be having a great time, and the crowd appreciated all of his local references, such as his discussion of his conversation with Mayor Joe Sinnott, who picked him up from the airport, and his comment that “I’m in the only place where I can say it’s a good thing to have an Erie feeling - and I’m feeling it tonight!”

Among the songs, some of the best-received were the heartfelt Show Me the Way, which he wrote for his son and dedicated to veterans and active members of the military; Babe, which he wrote for Suzanne, his wife of 40 years, who he introduced to the audience at that point in the concert; and Don’t Let It End, which, judging from his introduction and the slow-dancing that ensued, seems to have been a staple at proms in the early 80s. Desert Moon was the only song of the night from his solo career; everything else was from his tenure with Styx. Most songs included extended instrumental portions, with synthesizers and electric guitars in full effect. DeYoung himself spent quite a bit of time tearing up the keyboard, and he also showed off some smooth dance moves during Mr. Roboto.

Thanks to the overly earnest Nick on Freaks and Geeks, I am very familiar with the song Lady, though I hadn’t realized it was a Styx song until it started up last night. I enjoyed singing along with that one a bit and imagining the lovelorn pothead’s exaggerated expressions as he serenaded the nonplussed Lindsay. Later, my brother pointed out that Renegade, too, had turned up on the show, though it took me a moment to recognize that one. Our parents left the concert early, but we decided to stick around, especially since Come Sail Away was the part of the concert we were most excited about. As we suspected, DeYoung saved that one for last, following a first “encore,” before which he explained that he was just going to pretend that he had left the stage and come back after monstrous applause.

DeYoung introduced the song by thanking the audience and saying that we were all going to “sail away” together. After the lovely opening segment on the piano, he kept silent, gesturing to the audience to sing the first two lines without him. He chimed in from the third line on, but everyone out on the street kept singing, leading to a communal experience akin to American Pie at the free outdoor Don McLean concert I attended in Buffalo in 2002. On that occasion, people stuck their heads out of upper-story office buildings to sing along with the chorus; here, some very energetic young women on the balcony above a nearby bar let loose with some very flashy glow-in-the-dark hula hooping. During the lengthy, electrified instrumental portions, there was plenty of dancing in the streets, and it definitely ended the concert on a high note.

Styx is a little hard-rockin’ for my tastes, but I found that I really enjoyed the concert, thanks to the incredibly proficient instrumentalists and DeYoung’s terrific stage presence. If you get a chance to sail away with DeYoung in concert, it’s an invitation worth accepting.

The Good Humor Man Doesn't Put Me In a Bad Humor

LOST is my favorite show on television, now or ever, and it has given me dozens of characters in whom to become emotionally invested. Among those, it’s pretty much impossible to choose a single favorite, but one of the top contenders has always been Hugo “Hurley” Reyes, a huggable teddy bear of a guy who can always be counted upon to deliver a laugh and a whole lot of love. He’s played by Jorge Garcia, whose list of other roles is limited to 20 or so. Only three of his movies are available on Netflix, and one is a Christmas movie, so I decided to go ahead and rent the other two in order to give me a bit of Jorge in another context.

Little Athens arrived first, and I found it tedious in every respect. Hoping for better luck, I popped in The Good Humor Man. It came out the same year - 2005 - and received the same rating - R. Both movies include nudity, drug use, violence and excessive profanity. The difference is that The Good Humor Man, written and directed by Tenney Fairchild, also has a decent story.

Jay (Nathan Stevens) is a run-of-the-mill high school student. He’s a bit of a loser, in love with a girl way out of his league and getting a charge out of such pranks as dumping fake vomit over his fellow cinema-goers from the balcony before bolting. His best friend is a slacker nicknamed Mt. Rushmore (Garcia).

The two of them hang out with an assortment of burnouts that includes Jason Segel as the cantankerous Smelly Bob, which strengthens the connection between this movie and the superior series Freaks and Geeks. Like Lindsay Weir, Jay doesn’t feel entirely comfortable with these delinquents, but he spends time with them anyway, at least until something happens to make him seriously question the company he keeps.

There are some movies in which an R rating seems inevitable and appropriate, but as I watched, I couldn’t help thinking that all of the elements that make The Good Humor Man deserving of that rating are unnecessary. I would have much preferred the movie if it had been a little bit less abrasive. Freaks and Geeks never needed a flurry of colorful metaphors or bare bosoms to feel thoroughly realistic.

That said, I found Jay a very likable character, and the same goes for his crush Wendy (Cameron Richardson), a sweet girl who soon proves to be more than just a pretty face. As with Little Athens, I was disappointed that Garcia’s role was smaller than I’d expected, but I found this character much more sympathetic, albeit still not nearly as endearing as Hurley. I also loved Kelsey Grammer’s brief appearance in the role of Jay’s supportive, thoroughly PG-rated father.

It could be that my distaste for Little Athens caused me to enjoy this movie more than I otherwise might have. But while I could have done without all the swearing, I did find it to be entirely watchable. If you want a really great peek into the lives of high schoolers in the late 1970s / early 1980s, check out Freaks and Geeks. But if you’re willing to settle for just good, The Good Humor Man delivers.

Klaatu Comes in Peace, Sort Of, in The Day the Earth Stood Still

Several years ago, my brother Nathan had the lead in a play called The Foreigner. Among his lines was the curious phrase “Klaatu barada nikto,” a series of alien words spoken to avert a disaster in The Day the Earth Stood Still. The phrase didn’t mean anything to me when I heard it, though, nor did I have any frame of reference when, the following year, I watched the gloriously geeky young Sam Weir dress up as Gort, the robot from the same 1951 film, on the Halloween episode of Freaks and Geeks. By the time last year’s remake rolled around, I had a fairly good idea what the movie was all about, but I still hadn’t seen it. Now I can put another knotch in my sci-fi nerd belt because I’ve finally experienced The Day the Earth Stood Still.

I’ve got aliens on the brain lately thanks to ABC’s V, and it’s a little odd to watch this incredibly low-tech movie after the stunning visuals offered by the shiny new series. The alien vessel is literally a flying saucer, and during the scenes in which it’s airborne, it merely looks like a luminescent Frisbee. On the ground, it’s a little more impressive, but not much; it’s the drabbest spaceship imaginable, especially from the outside.

Additionally, it’s odd to see the difference in how spectators react to the ship’s two inhabitants. When Klaatu (Michael Rennie), steps off the ship, looking thoroughly human, everybody gets an itchy trigger finger. When Gort, who, to quote a sour neighbor in Freaks and Geeks, “looks like the freakin’ Tin Man,” steps out of the entrance, there’s a mass exodus at absurd speed. And that’s before the taciturn robot vaporizes several weapons.

Rennie’s warm but condescending turn as the alien visitor is the best aspect of this movie. His kindness and perplexity at some of the customs of humans endears him to the audience quickly; it’s obvious - to us, at least - that this is a benevolent entity. And yet, as my friend Dan pointed out as we finished watching, there’s a definite irony to the idea that Klaatu is heavily promoting peace while his metallic companion threatens to pulverize people with his eyes.

Acting-wise, Rennie is the only one who really kept my attention, though he shares some nice scenes with Billy Gray as Bobby Benson, the boy who quickly declares Klaatu his “best friend,” and Sam Jaffe as Professor Barnhardt, a scientist in whom he confides. Patricia Neal has some tender moments as Bobby’s mother Helen, but she also does a fair amount of annoying screaming, which particularly grates during a scene in which she has been given an important job to do. I guess that’s down to the writers more than the actress, but shrieking women have always gotten on my nerves.

This is an extremely slow movie. It’s got to be about the most uneventful sci-fi classic ever made. The big event that occurs is Klaatu causing human technology to stop for half an hour (though making helpful exceptions for such things as airplanes and other objects whose cessation would cause a disaster). It’s like the beginning of Flashforward, except nobody gets hurt. Klaatu spends the entire movie looking for a sufficiently wide audience for his Very Important Message: Don’t use atomic weapons on each other, or I’m afraid we’ll have to take you out for the good of the universe. By the time he makes the official announcement, we’ve heard it so many times that it sounds anti-climactic, not to mention like a double standard. He delivers it like an ultimatum, but then he just vanishes. When will he come back to make sure humanity has followed through? The movie really leaves things dangling.

I like the basic premise of The Day the Earth Stood Still, and I’m sure it made a much bigger impression 60 years ago. But for contemporary audiences, this movie is more historical curiosity than edge-of-your-seat drama.

Jason Segel Gets Freaky Again in I Love You, Man

I go to see movies at the theater for a variety of reasons. One draw lately has been the presence of actors and actresses from favorite television shows as they branch out into films. Freaks and Geeks and The Office got me interested in I Love You, Man, a buddy comedy featuring Jason Segel and Rashida Jones as Sydney and Zooey, the two most important people in the life of socially awkward real estate agent Peter Klaven (Paul Rudd). The R rating might have scared me off of buying a ticket, but I couldn't resist the free preview, so this evening I enjoyed a girls' night out watching a movie all about male bonding.

Judd Apatow isn't attached to this movie in any way, but director John Hamburg, who wrote the screenplay with Larry Levin, seems to be taking a leaf from Apatow's book. The comedy is extremely raunchy, but it also has a lot of heart. Aside from the occasional superfluous f-bomb and some alluded-to pre-marital nocturnal activities, real estate agent Peter is a PG kind of guy living in an R-rated world. He's sweet and considerate, a romantic who is attentive to his girlfriend and respectful to women in general. Around men, he's a little more uncomfortable, partly because he somehow is surrounded by a bunch of boorish brutes, like office frenemy Tevin (Rob Huebel), who laughs uproariously over inappropriate videos and tries to weasel in on Peter's commission, and Barry (Jon Favreau), the aggressive, confrontational husband of Zooey's friend Denise (Jaime Pressly). It isn't until he proposes and Zooey celebrates the news with her gal pals that his lack of male friendships really hits home.

Thus, the first part of the movie finds Peter rather pathetically pursuing a friend of his own through a series of disastrous "man dates" that include poker night with a bunch of beer-swilling hotheads, a soccer game with an excitable guy who sounds like a Muppet and dinner with a fellow who's a little too companionable for comfort. As is so often the case, however, the "aha!" moment comes when Peter isn't looking for it. He stumbles upon the uninhibited Sydney by accident and is taken aback by his candor and their easy rapport with each other. Friendship blooms. Sydney, who supports himself with an investment career but otherwise lives in an extended state of adolescence, begins to bring Peter out of his shell. Peter's happy, and Zooey is happy for him - until it starts to seem like Sydney has taken over his life...

I was a big fan of Nick Andopolis, the earnest, gentle, perpetually stoned teen Segel played on Freaks and Geeks. Sydney is like him in some ways, particularly in his fondness for jamming in his garage. Like Nick, he's a goofball but a good friend. However, he is much more attuned to the world around him than Nick is, and he's got a fairly crass attitude about relationships, especially his own. While I definitely prefer Nick, Sydney is a pretty good guy, and his cleverness comes across particularly well in one scene that requires keeping a close eye on the screen. Jones never really won me over on The Office, but then I suspect she wasn't supposed to. Instead of an icy romantic rival, she's a warm, caring woman here, very much in love with her fiance and eager to show him affection while leaving him space to develop his own interests and friendships. It would have been very easy in a movie like this to turn the wife-to-be into a shrew, but she doesn't come across that way at all. There's never much doubt that these two are an ideal couple. (While we're on the subject of favorite television shows, fellow LOST fans should keep an eye out for a reference that made my friend and me squeal for all in the packed house to hear.)

Some of the more innocent humor in the film derives from Peter's mangled attempts to sound suave when talking with others, particularly Sydney. The results are so ridiculous that I found myself thinking of bumbling Tim nonsensically regurgitating Wilson's sage advice on Home Improvement. I also like the dynamics of his family, particularly between his dad (J. K. Simmons) and brother Robbie (Andy Samberg), who both care for Peter deeply but don't seem to understand him as well as his doting mother (Jane Curtin) does. As a big fan of Saturday Night Live, particularly since his arrival, I could have done with more Samberg, but his scenes do a good job of establishing the dynamics of Peter and Robbie's brotherhood. Unfortunately, for every touching family moment or guilt-free laugh, there is an entirely too anatomical joke or a monologue filled with four-letter words. The profanity is fairly pervasive, and some of the sexually charged subject matter is likely to offend, while a running joke involving dog defecation is distasteful at best. The plus side is that most of the really lewd stuff is verbal rather than visual, so while this movie earns its R rating many times over, it's still considerably less graphic than it could have been.

As with just about every R-rated comedy I've ever seen, I walked away thinking, "Well, I would have liked that better if it had been PG-13." Put my objections to the conventions of contemporary "adult" comedies aside, though, and you've got a movie with a fair number of laughs and a trio of characters you just can't help but root for.

Seth Rogen Follows in Steve Carell's Footsteps in Knocked Up

A few years ago, if I had seen the trailers for Judd Apatow's Knocked Up, I probably would not have said to myself, "Now, that is a movie I need to see." One-night stands? Potty humor? Excessive profanity? R rating? Sounds more like something to avoid. But as much as those factors caused me to question how much I would enjoy the film, I couldn't help but be intrigued; Apatow's Freaks and Geeks, which I embraced when it arrived on DVD, was a brilliant show, and while The 40-Year-Old Virgin was pretty crude for my tastes, it had heart. So after hearing many gushing reviews, I decided I'd better check out Knocked Up and see if it lived up to the hype.

The first thing I'll say for Apatow is that he is loyal. No fewer than five Freaks and Geeks alums put in an appearance, starting with Seth Rogen as kind but clueless schlub Ben Stone, whose drunken shenanigans with Allison Scott (Katherine Heigl), a beautiful, ambitious young correspondent who has just received a promotion, lead to her pregnancy. While Rogen's character was the least developed of the "freak" crowd of which he was a part on Freaks and Geeks, he made a strong impression nonetheless, and when he showed up in Virgin, this time in a chattier role, it became easier to envision him as a leading man. Ben may be a loser who's never worked and whose last name seems to be a nod to his favorite activity, but he really carries the movie, especially when we realize that despite his inertia and rather foul mouth, he's actually a very sweet guy.

Other familiar faces from Freaks and Geeks include Jason Segel and Martin Starr as two of Ben's perpetually stoned housemates. There are echoes of their characters from that show in their performances here; Jason is intense to an intimidating level, while Martin is put upon by the others. (The quartet of guys with whom Ben resides all share a first name with the actors who portray them; the other two are played by Jonah Hill, who had a brief but memorable role in Virgin, and Jay Baruchel, from Apatow's short-lived television series Undeclared.) James Franco shows up as himself putting in a plug for Spider-man 3, which several characters later go see, perhaps in a sly show of support for Franco by Apatow, who not only directed Knocked Up but wrote the script. Leslie Mann, who had a brief role on Freaks and Geeks as a teacher on whom Bill had a crush and in Virgin as a disastrous potential date for Andy, plays Allison's shrill sister Debbie, whose seemingly ideal marriage to the melancholy Pete (Paul Rudd, from Virgin) is crumbling despite the presence of two adorable daughters (Maude and Iris Apatow).

Among the few cast members without a previous Apatow connection, Harold Ramis, who looks and sounds remarkably like Rogen, is both funny and tender as Ben's dad, and SNL cast member Kristen Wiig is hilarious as Jill, a higher-up who quietly offers Allison icily insincere congratulations for landing a plum position. Bill Hader, also of SNL, doesn't stand out much as Allison's co-worker Brent but is still amusing, as is Alan Tudyk as Jack, her too-cheerful boss.

All of these characters add to the film in one way or another, but the success of the movie really depends upon Rogen and Heigl, and they play off one another very well. While they don't seem like a very likely couple, the circumstances of Ben and Allison's meeting and subsequent hook-up are believable; chalk it up to a gentlemanly gesture on Ben's part and Allison's promotion-induced adrenaline. Besides, she may be a knockout, but she's also very down-to-earth and doesn't seem to think herself better than Ben, at least until he tells her about his "job", which involves pin-pointing all the nude scenes in various films for chronicling on a website he and his buddies are working on, and confesses that he's spent all of his adult life thus far living off the money he received when a mail truck ran over his foot. Despite her dubious impression of how he spends his time, once she learns of the pregnancy and decides to keep the baby, she's determined to at least give their relationship a shot, and he's willing, at least on some level, to step up to the challenge of being a father.

In romantic terms, I preferred Knocked Up to Virgin, as I liked both parties equally and was really rooting for them to end up together. While Ben's lethargic pals aren't as engaging as Andy's co-workers, they still form a decent support system; meanwhile, the friendship that develops between Ben and Pete is charming, and Allison shares some nice moments with her sister. In terms of vulgarity, I can't decide which of the films is cruder. Both are quite heavy on the profanity and the explicit references to sexuality, though what we actually see on screen is somewhat limited. I didn't find the movie any more offensive than I expected; reviews and my prior experience with Virgin left me well prepared. Still, despite the ultimately fairly warm and fuzzy undercurrent, this is not a film I would recommend to all audiences. My parents are intrigued enough by what they've heard to want to check it out; I suspect they will find it equal parts funny, touching and mortifying.

I won't heap "movie of the summer"-type accolades on this film, but I will say that fans of Apatow's first film should enjoy his second, which may do for Rogen what Virgin did for Steve Carell. I don't think either comes close to capturing the perfect blend of hilarity and drama found in Freaks and Geeks, which was situated firmly in PG-13, if not strictly PG, territory. I'd like to see him do a movie more in that vein, but until he does, his first two film outings are worthwhile efforts. Just get ready to click the ol' internal mute button a few dozen times...