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.

I think I know my issue with Judd Apatow's movies.

They're always overdrawn. I think Apatow is a true Auteur, and has intelligent, stylish ways of telling a story.

Like almost all his flicks, this movie has laughs, heart and drama.... A LOT of drama.

Apatow should either write, or direct his movies, not both. I have a feeling if someone else took the directors chair/ producers chair, the movie would be significantly shorter.

I don't mind drama in movies, but when the extra hour of the movie is filled up with only drama, then I become irritated.

This is a movie you should rent/watch on Netflix. The writing and direction are both good, but you need to pace yourself, take breaks, come back later after getting some air, because 2.5 hours is to long for a movie like this.

This is all my opinion of course, so take it or leave it.

Regardless of anything, enjoy your night out at the movies, you earned it!

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.

While I'm in my 40s I am single and childless but I hear enough stories from people around me (same age, middle class Californians) to know this movie is actually touching on what are real world situations for some people. So I didn't feel like there was much overdramatization as most critics point out. I also didn't feel like it was too long as I did enjoy the story, dialogues, etc. So I didn't think it felt drawn out. At the end of the day, most of the jokes work, plot and characters are engaging, and so there is enough to enjoy despite having nothing extremely original to rave about.

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.