YMMV / Knocked Up

• Alternative Character Interpretation: The doorman scene. Depending on the viewer, Debbie's rant either generates sympathy for her as she ages, or makes her look like a massive Entitled Bitch who can't deal with the fact that she is less able to get special treatment in her daily life. People are made to wait in line all the time (like Ben and his friends, as shown in the beginning of the movie) without throwing a complete tantrum about it.
• Designated Hero: Katherine Heigl's much-maligned declaration that the movie portrays women as demanding harpies may have had a bit of a point. The movie (or, at the very least, the fans) is way more sympathetic toward Ben. He's lovable despite getting well into his twenties with no ambitions or plans for the future, happily living off settlement money (and illegally in the country). At the dinner table, he openly talks about wanting to skip town when he found out Alison was pregnant. He did very little to prepare for her pregnancy and because she essentially has one moodswinging meltdown she's treated like a cruel bitch. Ben becomes the hero of the movie for realizing basic responsibility, and he never really has to apologize for being a bit of a jerkass to Alison. But still, Alison is the harpy.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • When Ben is exercising he says "I'm breathing like James Gandolfini here!", which became a lot less funny when James died of a heart attack in 2013.
  • The scene of Allison's interview with Steve Carell going off the rails ("Don't be an asshole!") is this considering Heigl's career getting torpedoed in part due to developing a reputation for being difficult to work with.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • In the film, Jason makes a joke about Jay wanting to "rear Ben's child". When the DVD came out with some deleted scenes, Jason reveals to Ben that he more or less wants to do the exact same thing! Of course he assumes the baby will be a girl, will look like her mother and he plans on waiting until she's 18.
  • Debbie mistakes one of Alison's pregnancy tests as her own and freaks out when it reads positive. In This Is 40, Debbie really is pregnant!
  • Pete revealing to Debbie that he saw Spider-Man 3 without her becomes this now that Paul Rudd and Spider-Man are in a movie together.
  • Ben tells Pete "I Love You Man". Also, the scene where Jason rejects Pete at the door of his apartment, considering in that movie he really wants to be friends with him.
  • Ben and the others consider giving up on their nude-scene website after finding out it's been done. In the years since Knocked Up came out, plenty of Mr Skin imitators have surfaced and stayed online for years.
• Hollywood Homely:
  • For all his schlubbiness, Ben is actually quite attractive, despite Debbie going on about his supposed "bad genes."
  • Hearing someone as conventionally attractive as Leslie Mann talk about how she's old and ugly is almost funny in an unintended way.
• Nightmare Fuel: Alison's niece describes what she thinks happens when a woman has a baby. It sounds even more horrifying than the real thing.
• One-Scene Wonder:
  • Craig Robinson as the nightclub bouncer that Debbie curses out for not letting her and Allison in.
  • Also Harold Ramis as Ben's dad.
  • Ryan Seacrest as himself ranting about celebrities.
• Retroactive Recognition: This is the first film for Charlyne Yi, who would play Ruby in Steven Universe and Chloe in We Bare Bears as well as various other onscreen roles later. They have a minor role here as one of Ben's friends.
• Squick: The baby crowning scene.

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