What you should do if you can’t see Atonement this weekend

Cinema goers will all be planning to go to see Atonement this weekend: I know I am. But if you are defeated by the queues, which threaten to be of English Patient/Shakespeare in Love proportions, do go and see Knocked Up instead. If ever a film was let down by its title it is this one. Clearly marketed for the audience that loved American Pie and US gross-out comedy, this is actually a very sophisticated film which brilliantly explores the gender gap and uses an old and unremarkable plotline – beautiful woman falls pregnant by unattractive male – as a sturdily reliable framework over which to drape the most delicate script and comedy of observation. There is a moment when the girl and her sister go out for a meal with the unlovely slacker and the sister’s husband and – to the women’s horror – the men bond deeply and instantly over De Niro impressions: a moment which every man and woman of a certain age will relate to instantly. If you can’t see McEwan, enjoy this splendid summer comedy instead before it is taken off.