The big kahuna of new releases this weekend is "Knocked Up," from Judd Apatow and some of the other folks who gave us "The 40-Year-Old Virgin." That movie played surprisingly broadly, but the grandmas who thought Steve Carell was so adorable in "Virgin" may choke on their Junior Mints when they get a load of the jokes here: This is one seriously filthy comedy. But hilarious, too, and remarkably sweet. (Not to mention brutally on target about wedded bliss. When Paul Rudd's character says marriage is just like "Everybody Loves Raymond" without the laughs, watch how many heads in the theater bob up and down).
Just one catch: I don't buy the premise. Maybe Katherine Heigl's perky, striving entertainment-TV reporter would choose to have the baby -- maybe -- but would she really try to make a go of it with the bong-addled schlemiel who knocked her up, even if Seth Rogen does make boorishness charming, as Wesley says in his review? Anyone who has actually lived with an infant full-time knows they usually put more stress on a marriage rather than magically solving everything, Hollywood-style.
But so what? I laughed my socks off when I wasn't cringing in empathy. It's great to see Apatow's old "Freaks and Geeks" and "Undeclared" stock company pop up in supporting roles. (After this and "Superbad" later this summer, Jonah Hill is going to be huge. Wait, he already is.) And Leslie Mann as Heigl's married sister, wound tighter than a tick? She's both terrifying and hot, an unusual combination.
Moving on. If you care even a whit about anime and creative envelope-pushing in animation (and you can't get to the Brattle), make a point of seeing "Paprika," the latest mind-melter from Satoshi Kon of "Millennium Actress" and "Tokyo Godfathers." Not for the kiddies or the anime-averse, but definitely for adventurous grown-ups who can conceive of a Miyazaki movie with the knob turned to 11.
Kevin Costner goes nutzoid in "Mr. Brooks" but not as nutzoid as the movie itself, which actually may be more demented than "Paprika," if not on purpose. The movie has one of Kev's more interesting performances, a riotous turn by William Hurt as the title character's id, the first genuine acting I've seen from Dane Cook, and Demi Moore at her most humorless and thus most funny. The film's a lulu, not successful in the end but really something to see nevertheless.
"The Boss of It All" is a workplace comedy from Lars von Trier that should tickle laid-off CFOs and those who like dryly gutbusting improv. "Severance," which Wesley reviews, sounds like a slasher variation of some of the same themes. "Snow Cake" has Sigourney Weaver playing an autistic woman, but you want to see it for a rare lead performance from Alan Rickman (too many people know him only as Prof. Snape in the "Harry Potter" movies) and a weirdly affecting supporting turn from a young actress named Emily Hampshire.
The Brattle's Zhang Yimou retrospective kicks in in earnest starting tonight, but tomorrow is given over to cutting-edge anime -- between "Paprika" and this, it's quite the weekend for Japanimation.
Of course, "Once" and "Day Night Day Night" are still at the Coolidge and other local theaters. And there's that pirate thing. The Harvard Film Archive is dark for the month while they put in new projection equipment.
