Months before the release of Knocked Up, the early reviews and word of mouth were incredibly strong, perhaps the strongest advance word anyone could remember on a recent film. Several months ago, no-nonsense Hollywood journalist Nikki Finke wrote in her Deadline Hollywood column, “Jeez, everyone is gushing over Knocked Up. This is just insane. And I’m talking about people whose taste and acumen I respect. As opposed to most of the morons out there.” Does the film live up to the hype? Two weeks before the movie opened, I attended the premiere in Westwood, CA, and found out for myself.

There was a nice surprise at the beginning of the premiere that kept in spirit of the movie. Before Knocked Up started rolling, its writer / director Judd Apatow brought up his cousin and his girlfriend because he had something special he wanted to ask her, and he picked to premiere as the ideal venue. It sure wasn’t hard to figure out what he wanted to say, but the poor guy just didn’t have the courage to speak. So Apatow called up Jack Black to say the words Apatow’s cousin was too nervous to utter. Apatow then told Black to talk about the journey they could take together, and he sang, “Don’t Stop Belivin’.” In short, Black asked on behalf of Apatow’s cousin if she’d marry him, and she said yes.

After the film, we saw the bride to be at the after party, along with the whole cast, all basking in the screening’s afterglow. I also spotted Edward Norton, Ben Stiller hobnobbing with Spider-Man himself, Tobey Maguire, Spider-Man alumni James Franco (who has a small role in the film) former Stone Temple Pilots guitarist Dean DeLeo, Gary Shandling, who probably had the largest entourage of anyone in attendance, as well as a lot of scary looking Hollywood agents all wearing black, most of them bald, with malevolent focus in their eyes. As Finke pointed out in her column, Apatow is the hottest thing since sliced bread right now, and with the biggest talent agencies trying to poach him, his people were probably trained to kill in case anyone tried to lead him away at the premiere.

But enough of the celebrity scene at the premiere, it’s the movie that’s most important, and it indeed lives up to the hype and then some. It is a mercilessly hysterical film, merciless in that there’s one great laugh after another, after another, after another, giving the audience scant room to catch its breath. Unless you are completely devoid of any sense of humor, it’s impossible not to laugh at this movie. The film’s review in Variety was right on target: “Line for line, minute to minute, Judd Apatow’s latest effort is more explosively funny, more frequently, than nearly any other major studio release in recent memory.”

Knocked Up is also a very smart and well-crafted comedy. The characters don’t change or develop too quickly, and whatever victories they achieve in the story are earned. You’re rooting for this average guy, Seth Rogen, to end up staying with the beautiful Katherine Heigl, but if their romance bloomed too soon, it would feel tacked on and phony. Thankfully Apatow’s touch is just right, and he never shows his cards too soon.

Knocked Up is also a very smart comedy in that it blends guy humor and chick flick stuff well, making it a perfect date film, which will certainly increase its box-office potential. It’s one of those great films where the planets align and everything comes together right.

Finally, Knocked Up is a strong ray of hope for movies this summer because it’s not a tired sequel or remake. Nor is it based on a comic book, video game, or toy. It’s a brilliant original movie, and I hope its success will prove in this day and age they can still be successful.