Seth Rogen, Katherine Heigl, Paul Rudd | R | [3.5 stars]
COMEDY
So many overzealous comedies attempt to reinvent the wheel, with ludicrously contrived plots that are all setup, no payoff. By taking an old-school, low-key approach—just the laughs, ma'am—Knocked Up makes a pair of overused comedic staples, pregnancy and love, completely fresh and funny. A gorgeous budding TV journalist (Heigl) celebrates a big promotion by getting plastered and falling into bed with a lazy, ordinary-looking goofball (Rogen). She gets pregnant, and the genetically incorrect duo must decide whether to give parenthood, and each other, a shot.
I'd recommend Knocked Up for its nonstop jokes alone, but writer-director Judd Apatow (The 40-Year-Old Virgin) also makes every moment feel wholly real and relatable. Who hasn't worried about traumatizing the baby-to-be during pregnancy sex, or fantasized about owning Back to the Future's time-traveling DeLorean? Heigl—where has the Grey's Anatomy star been hiding these comic chops?—and Rogen, who deftly manages to be crude and cuddly, are marvelous. So are Rudd and Leslie Mann, as a long-married couple with two kids of their own. Together, they're this summer's real fantastic four.
Mr. Brooks
Kevin Costner, William Hurt, Demi Moore | R | [2 stars]
REVIEWED BY LEAH ROZEN
THRILLER
Earl Brooks (Costner), a leading businessman in Portland, Ore., has a problem. He's addicted to killing strangers—craving the near sexual rush he feels immediately after shooting them dead in their homes. A careful killer, Earl meticulously covers his tracks. Until, that is, the night he fails to notice that the curtains are still open when he blasts a couple in their bed. Oops.
The central conceit to Mr. Brooks, and its single most striking and successful element, is that our killer is under the sway of a cajoling alter-ego he calls Marshall (Hurt), whom only he can see. "Why do you fight it so hard?" Marshall asks, urging Earl to follow his homicidal impulses. As smoothly played by Costner and Hurt, the mordant give-and-take between the pair gives the film juice and a welcome jolt of humor. But as the plot grows ever more convoluted, Brooks becomes ever more ridiculous and ever less engrossing. Portraying a cop trying to identify the killer, a brittle Moore brings little to the party other than her distinctive husky voice.
Crazy Love
PG-13 | [3 stars]
REVIEWED BY LEAH ROZEN
DOCUMENTARY
This fascinating film mixes home movies, archival footage and current interviews to tell a bizarre tale of real-life obsession. In 1959, married lawyer Burt Pugach hired men to throw lye in the face of his mistress Linda Riss after she dumped him, blinding her. But after he served 14 years in prison, Riss wed the man who left her disfigured—and they remain a bickersome couple today.
