I suppose you're right. I was born in 1983 so I guess you can say I grew up in the late 80s. Thanks to my dad, I became well acquainted (albeit via edited for TV broadcasts) with Caddyshack, The Blues Brothers, Animal House, Ghostbusters, etc.

I also went to film school so usually the conversations I have with friends from school are peppered with gratuitous Aliens/Terminator/Star Trek/Star Wars quotes, too.

Can't we imagine Pitt will get the death penalty? I know some cop says, "We'll take care of him," or something, but still.

It seems that way when Paltrow says she wants to abort her kid so that it won't grow up in this world, and especially after the climax. But Freeman saves it right at the end when he says the world is worth saving. He's our hero.

Although, he is childless and a bit cold and empty, so I don't know.

I'm guessing you grew up in the 80s, given the vintage of you quotes. What you have to realize is quotes are for teenagers and immature 20-somethings. And since you didn't see Apatow movies in your teen years, of course you wouldn't quote them.

I can remember a whole lot of Simpsons (and Big Lebowski, for that matter, which has popped up a lot on this thread) thrown around when I was in high school, which makes perfect sense given that we had all been watching the show since we were 7. If you go to a high school or college campus today, I bet you'd find at least as much Apatow as Caddyshack or Simpson. Well, maybe not The Simpsons, since it's still on, but you get the point.

My problem with the presentation is that it's tiresome and cliched. The man is all out-of-sorts, and needs the joys of being latched to a babymaker and to surrender all his individuality and free will to 'grow up'. It's just how things always are now: the man is the goof, the buffoon, the moron, and the woman the eye-rolling picture of calm, poise, serenity, and wisdom.

Heigl's character had minimal flaws – she freaked out a little about being a mom, but spent most of the movie complaining that manchild hadn't grown up yet. Having one scene where you get yelled at, and then the yeller apologizes and toes the line, is not getting 'shown up'.

And the Leslie Mann character was completely baffling to me. How was Paul Rudd's character an ass? I'd scheme to get away from that horror too. But, of course, at the end he admits he's in the wrong too. Hooray.

Though the books appear to promote abstinence, they also transvaluate vampires, traditionally monsters, into heroes. Talk about nihilism: you can't even call monsters monsters anymore. (/sarcasm)

However, isn't it a bit of a stretch to jump from not having any values to ridiculing some values? I don't care how little the soulless man-boy hedonists in "Knocked Up" or "I Love You, Man" changed. They certainly weren't confirmed in all of their beliefs. In other words, there were other voices, voices upholding traditional values, implied or explicit, in the films. You'd have to be covering your ears not to hear it.