Anyway, ever since you posted your thoughtful take on the “Knocked Up” conversation my friend and I lobbed back and forth over an hour of email, I’ve been troubled by what comes off as a flippant remark by me. I did laugh at “P”’s saying that if a woman had made the film it would have been very short and called “Abort It,” but I was laughing more at her typically unromantic bluntness and her phrasing than at the idea that someone could want to let a one-night-stand pregnancy continue. I think this is one instance where leaving shorthand email phrasing as it was leaves out too much nuance.

As it happens, I don’t (and didn’t) agree with my friend that there was only one obvious conclusion to the pickle the Heigl character finds herself in (or vice versa). There are a lot of people who might choose not to abort even if they’re pro-choice (might not be able to conceive again because of age or health, it’s something they wanted to do anyway, etc.). And my personal view, having never been through it, is that a measure (small or large, depending on the person and situation) of emotional pain probably comes with the ending of every pregnancy, whether accidental or chosen. That said, I’m pro-choice for everybody. But I appreciate your pointing out the crudeness of my answer–it certainly comes out as less sensitive and compassionate than I think myself to be in real life, rather than in tough-sounding email bursts.

The New Yorker’s David Denby recently published a long essay in consideration of contemporary romantic comedy. Because it’s Denby and it’s the New Yorker,New Yorker,