40 ans: mode d'emploi

A good rule of thumb is any movie where Jason Segal has the funnier lines probably shouldn't have been made. This seemingly endless stream of hormonal tirades was difficult to say the least. Leslie Mann pulled this off once in Knocked Up. Which was a delightful film by comparison. But in This is 40 I could not find one sympathetic thing about her character or any of the characters for that matter. Part of the problem is KnockedUp was made before this basic cast was in every other film that came out. I kept waiting for Jonah Hill to happen by and suck up what little oxygen Leslie Mann hadn't already used. I am a fan of Judd Apatow. He's a comedy geek's comedy geek. Hence the casting of the brilliant veteran comedy writer Robert Smigel as the buddy of Pete. So I settled in to watch and see what Smigel could do as an actor. But he had two scenes in this nearly two and a half hour film. Guess they cut some of his scenes to make room for some more where Leslie Mann gets angry over nothing and curses and screams for half an hour. I was also excited to see Jim Brooks as Pete's father. He receives lots of screen time and is the second least sympathetic character. I do admire Apatow for having the courage to try and combine work and home by just putting his family on screen. But why so mundane? It's compelling when a film depicts regular people in not so regular situations. This film is made up of regular people who live in southern California and drive BMW's and Lexi and complain constantly about things that happen to everyone. It's exhausting. I will not give any attention to the children in this review as it is clear that they have received far too much attention already. On a strictly "laugh o meter" scale this film is not completely devoid of humor. Like say, Funny People. In fact, Funny People makes This is 40 look like The Jerk. Paul Rudd does fine as usual,and Megan Fox is great eye candy and "hottie relief". Here's hoping that this is the end of Apatow's tacky Cassavetes period.

For a comedy, then "This is 40" had a tendency to keep on going on and on, and at almost two hours, it started to wear thin, and the movie should have had ended about 30 minutes ago.

The story in "This is 40" is about married couple Pete (played by Paul Rudd) and Debbie (played by Leslie Mann), who celebrate a 40th year birthday and are starting to have marital issues that are weighing down on them, as is their financial situation.

"This is 40" is a movie about turning 40, but struggling to keep being young. But it is also a story of relationship situations, up and downs, good and bad. And it is a movie about love conquering all obstacles.

The cast in the movie was quite good, and there is a great chemistry between Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann. And they both really carried the movie so well, and made it worthwhile to sit through. Jason Segel also makes a small entrance in this movie in a strange, but small, role. And John Lithgow also makes a nice addition to the movie, despite having a small role.

Aside from being a bit too long and dragging on, then "This is 40" is a good movie. It is the type of comedy that makes you smile and feel good, not the kind of comedy that will have tears trailing down your cheeks from laughing too hard.

Everyone hits 40 at sometime, and some deal with it better than others. "This is 40" is well worth a watch if you are sitting down with a loved one and want an evenings worth of entertainment that is best watched with the person you love.

This is 40 is a complete surprise. A straight-forward slice of life that follows its protagonists as they cross the great, unseen barrier into their fifth decade, the film is naturally funnier, more poignant, and more engaging than might be expected. With laughter coming from the both the banalities of life and its heavier moments, the film rarely sinks into caricature and keeps tone-killing silliness to a minimum.

Wow, this film seems to be generating a lot of hostility: I am not quite sure what's behind it. I guess people went into this expecting a sitcom-like, snappy feel good film, like 40 Year Old Virgin? Or goofy, happy-go-lucky characters such as Seth Rogen's posse in Knocked Up? Did these people not see Funny People? I am all in favor of letting Mr. Apatow develop as a director. To be clear here: this film follows Pete and Debbie's story arc from a few years after the events in Knocked Up. The are both turning 40, and neither is handling it particularly gracefully, but they weren't handling their lives and relationships particularly well in the earlier film. I found this movie to have a Larry David Show quality to it: however irrationally and offensively our protagonists behave, there are always others who will go them one better (or worse). Yes, Debbie and Pete are defective human beings; but so, I would argue, are all the people inhabiting this world, excepting the very gentlemanly Graham Parker (and Billie Joe Armstrong). Such is the stuff of comedy. Are these caricatures? Surely, and yet they are caricatures of realities which I see every day. Is the teenage daughter given to histrionics? You bet, but that is what teenagers are like, and the fact remains that teenagers turn their parents into equally irrational and histrionic characters in that relationship; I actually found it refreshing to find a teenager in a movie, played by a teenager, who isn't a wisecracking savant commenting on the follies of her elders.

To sum up, this felt to me like a mature work from a good director. There are moments of farce, slapstick, and outrageous humor, surrounded by moments where things just happen. For people who can't handle that kind of pacing, you are welcome to stay out of movie theaters, and sit in front of your TV sets: the networks are sure to have plenty of non-challenging sitcoms that are specially designed to pander to you.

I've read the other reviews. Yes there are fart jokes and too many Apple products. Yes, the the people are arrogant and self centered and broken. Yes, Judd Apatow put his entire family in yet another movie. Yes, there is not plot and the story is kind of depressing and all over the place and there really isn't much reason to show Debbie's shop except to show Megan Fox in a bra... but if you like crude humor, this movie is exceptional at it.

I have not laughed so much and so hard in a long time. This is a great movie about funny people dealing with life's serious things with lots of crude disgusting humor and it was awesome.