BOTTOM LINE: Witty, well written and very funny, “Knocked Up” takes an old story and makes it very fresh and modern with likeable characters, despite a last act which overstays its welcome.

THE GOOD: The concept at the heart of this movie is fairly standard; boy and girl hook up for a one-night stand, girl gets pregnant, boy and girl try to figure out how they will handle this issue and how it will affect their lives. What makes “Knocked Up” stand out is the sheer quality of the writing, the uniqueness of the characters presented and the side-splitting comedy that emerges as a result of these combination of factors coming together. Director Judd Apatow clearly has a sense for comedic dialogue, and in a way, the film stands out not as a piece but in the individual comedic moments presented. Seth Rogen and his posse of bong-smoking nerds are hilarious to watch and could have constituted a film on to themselves, featuring the creation of their interesting web site to their weed induced conversations of grandeur. Katherine Heigl’s straight girl is a nice balance between Rogen and her character’s quirky family, despite the pair being completely mismatched to the point where you cannot really see how they would end up having a one-night stand, even with all the alcohol consumed. “Knocked Up” is a very funny film that has a unique sense of humour, which is refreshing in this day and age of Hollywood formula.

THE BAD: The film gets bogged down in minutiae in the last act, overstaying its welcome. As the impending birth scene comes along, the film becomes less funny as it tries to tie up all the loose plot elements and gets everyone to their logical conclusion, and happy ending. This is a shame because the first two thirds of the film are gold, but you can really see the air being let out of the tyres once everyone moves to the hospital. Apatow’s quest to present a real world group of characters and situations gets taken a step too far perhaps by perhaps going a bit far in the birth scenes; for a hilarious comedy, this shifts the tone of the piece too far away from that comedy.