I think it’s fair to say that without KNOCKED UP Katherine Heigl would not have the choice of roles currently open to her.

At the start of the year she appeared in ZYZZYX ROAD, the lowest grossing movie of all time. Yet her recent turn in Apatow’s unplanned pregnancy comedy has shot her into “new Julia Roberts” territory.

However in a recent Vanity Fair profile she’s taken a shot at KNOCKED UP, the film that made her a star:-

“It paints women as shrews, humorless and uptight, and it paints the men as lovable, goofy, fun-loving guys … I’m playing such a [expletive]; why is she being such a killjoy? Why is this how you’re portraying women? Ninety-eight percent of the time it was an amazing experience, but it was hard for me to love the movie.”

Ouch!

Though Heigl makes a somewhat valid point surely she should’ve realised that this is how all Apatow’s stuff works. He balances down to earth “normal” characters (Heigl in KNOCKED UP, Keener in THE 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN) and plays them off the goofy guys like Rogen and Steve Carrell.

That is partly where Apatow’s comedy comes from. After a life changing experience these goofy guys begin to adjust to normality – mawkish sentiment ensues.

I like Apatow’s films to a point but if it was a toss up between seeing a new Apatow movie or one from Mike White I’d prefer the latter. Though I accept I’ll be in the minority.

Apatow’s funniest film in my opinion is SUPERBAD, a film he didn’t write or direct but seems to get all the credit for. Though again that sticks close to Apatow formula, giving the guys all the funniest lines and having the girls function as the “straight man”.

Perhaps Heigl should hook up with Diablo Cody. JUNO looks to be a comedy with some bite and it has a female lead. Cody is also planning to write an “anti-Apatow” film, a female respone to SUPERBAD.

source – la times