Top 10: Comedy Knock-ups

Kicking off our list is the comedy-drama about a pregnant and unhappily married waitress who transforms her gloom into delicious desserts. Things get interesting when she falls in love with her new doctor, played by Nathan Fillion. This film edges on serious drama, but makes us laugh with its sweet, smart and quirky dialogue.

This political satire is centered on an irresponsible and drug-addicted woman who gets pregnant, and then gets caught up in the ongoing abortion debate. She turns the tables on the pro-lifers and the pro-choicers by allowing each group to try and sway her decision with cold hard cash. The film does a great job at examining how political warfare often overlooks the women involved. Plus, it features Burt Reynolds as a pro-lifer.

Number 8: Baby Mama (2008)

Also in:

The Baby-Sitters Club Cast: Where Are They Now?

This baby-fever film follows a successful, single businesswoman, played by Tina Fey, who discovers that she’s infertile. She then hires a hick to be her unlikely surrogate. This by-the-numbers comedy wins our hearts by matching Tina Fey’s deadpan delivery with Poehler’s unique brand of juvenile humor.

Number 7: Nine Months (1995)

Also in:

Top 20 Comedy Movies that Will Be Future Classics

In a film that focuses on the male side of pregnancy, Hugh Grant plays a child psychologist who doesn’t want kids, but finds himself nine months away from it nonetheless. This movie gives us hilariously paranoid fantasies of what fatherhood might be like, a chronically-pregnant Joan Cusack, a dimwitted performance by Tom Arnold, and Robin Williams as a foreign gynecologist with a weak grasp of English.

Number 6: Father of the Bride Part II (1995)

Also in:

Top 10 Differences Between Father of the Bride (2022) & (1991)

While his daughter may have tied the knot, the father, played by Steve Martin, now finds out his worries have only just begun. With a grandchild on the way, and a mid-life crisis developing, he impulsively sells his home, only to discover his own wife is pregnant! Aside from focusing on the rare occurrence of becoming a father and grandfather at the same time, this movie also brings back Martin Short as the oddly accented wedding planner, who now organizes baby showers.

Number 5: Saved! (2004)

Also in:

Has Anyone But You SAVED the Rom-Com?

In this odd twist on the formula, a devout student at a Christian high school finds out that her boyfriend is gay. After getting a vision from Jesus, she decides to “cure” him by breaking her vow of chastity. When she gets pregnant, she becomes an outcast and begins questioning everything she thought she knew. She also befriends the school’s only Jew and a wheelchair-bound cynic.

We still can’t believe this movie exists: who would have expected action star Arnold Schwarzenegger to take on a project where he gets knocked up? In case you’re still confused, here’s the premise: Arnie plays a muscle-clad scientist who miraculously implants a female’s egg inside himself, and gets to experience the joys of morning sickness, labor pains, and delivery.

This is the classic coming-of-age tale with a twenty first century twist, and lots of overly-articulate dialogue. A confident and frank teenage girl has to accept that she doesn’t know everything, especially when she gets impregnated by a headband-and-shorts-wearing Michael Cera. Thankfully, this hipster tale never preaches: it merely entertains while blurring the line between comedy and drama.

Coming in a close second is the comedy in which Steve Martin tackles fatherhood…Again! Here, he plays a neurotic sales exec who is trying to balance his career and his family. He has to deal with troublesome kids and the news that another little monster is on the way. This film is a snapshot of the best and worst parts of child-rearing all packed into one movie, but it does feature more than its fair share of the worst paternal nightmares.

Taking the top spot on our list is this poignant and refreshing Judd Apatow comedy. Seth Rogen plays a party-loving slob who drunkenly gets a girl pregnant. He then struggles to accept the responsibilities of fatherhood and discovers that making a baby is easier than making a relationship work. We dig the film’s raunchy humor, amusing banter, clever pop culture references and sharp observations of human behavior. With so many great pregnancy comedies, we’re sure we missed a few. Which is your favorite?