MOVIE REVIEW - This Is 40

Movie maker Judd Apatow has been making edgy comedies for a long time now with great success.  This Is 40 is his latest project, a sort of sequel to his Knocked Up years ago.

This brings back some of the characters from Knocked Up, and introduces us to some new ones too.  This is a look at the challenges and facts to a degree, about turning 40 in today's world.  Some of this is laugh out loud funny.   But I emphasize some.   But above all, what this really is, is 2 hours and 15 minutes of really not funny.  Also tasteless, or nothing resembling original.  This is supposed to be Apatow's most heartfelt comedy yet.   There is not one moment here that is anywhere near engaging or heartfelt.  Just distant, self-indulgent, and "I'm making the movie, so I'll do what I want."

Paul Rudd is Pete, and Leslie Mann is Debbie. They are both having birthdays in the same week and turning 40. She is panicked by it, and he is sort of disconnected.   They have two teen girls, and have their hands full with that.  Pete owns a struggling record company, and Debbie owns a small clothing store.   They have enormous financial problems, they lie to each other, and live sort of separate lives - married.  Their kids are obnoxious, so are their friends.   Plus their extended families are amazingly dysfunctional.

To be fair, a lot of this really speaks to the target audience.  Much of this is a mirror image of what young couples have gone through and are going through.   And there are a few moments that are poignant and funny.  But far too few.  This is simply not very funny.  I was in a full theater today, and many of the moments designed for big laughs, got none.

Trouble here is this.  It's the same formula that Apatow has been using for years.  Lot's of terrible language, an obsession with body parts and sounds, drug use, and a 7th grade level of humor all the way around.  Only this time we get to see such lovely things as a mammogram, a colonoscopy, a prostate exam, and a visit to the gynecologist.  That's on top watching Pete sit on the john for minutes on end while he has a fight with Debbie, not once but twice.  The formula is old, tired and been done.   He invented a formula that for himself  and now he has worn out his own welcome.  Although this time he does toss in, a parent bullying and threatening a buck-tooth little kid, and a different mother ripping into a school principal about her husband who recently died. 

I do like Rudd. Only if he could decide if he's really an original funny man, or if he's just another guy on screen.  I wish he would choose more wisely.  There are times though he really makes me laugh. Leslie Mann (Apatow's real-life wife)  is a pretty funny lady.  She always seems to have that glazed, dazed look on her face, and is sort of a not plugged in self that is charming at times, and completely original and hers alone. The supporting cast is big with names, Jason Segel, John Lithgow, Megan Fox, Melissa McCarthy, Albert Brooks and others.  All small roles, all over casted, and most are unnecessary.

This goes in way too many directions, with a total loss of focus for the most part. Almost all the characters you don't really like, or worse care about.  Biggest trouble here?  This is way too long.  How no one involved with this doesn't know that is beyond me.   This is 2 hours and 15 minutes. More than likely movie makers ego run amok.

 This Is 40.  This is mostly 40 minutes too long, and nearly all of it is just a mess.