While there's nothing horrendously wrong with "This is 40," I couldn't help but find myself wanting to leave the theatre 2/3 through the movie. I'm a huge fan of Judd Apatow, and I very much enjoyed "Knocked Up," so getting a chance to revisit the enjoyable characters from that enjoyable film when this project was announced was welcome news. Having said that, Apatow has missed the mark of the "Knocked Up" and "40-Year Old Virgin" standards. "This is 40" unfortunately skews towards the "Funny People" side of the Apatow spectrum, and that's not a good thing. Luckily, dear readers, it's not as turgid as "Funny People." Granted, I got what Apatow was trying to do with "Funny People," which is mostly NOT what he's trying to do with "This is 40." But it's just not nearly as good as Apatow's best, sadly.
The biggest problem for me with "This is 40" is that, while "Virgin" and "Knocked" had a story and trajectory to follow, "This is 40" just sort of meanders and rambles incoherently. There's a pseudo-story, which I suppose is fitting for a so-called pseudo-sequel, about Pete (Paul Rudd) being in debt after starting his own record company and struggling to promote an aging Graham Parker, while Deb (Leslie Mann) discovers she's pregnant, and the effects of these occurrences on their marriage/family/lifestyle. But for the most part, it's not concerned with really resolving this issue, so much as showcasing several vignettes of random circumstances in this couple's day-to-day lifestyle. The results are often funny, in ways only Apatow really excels at. And as such, it's a plus. Some standout scenes include Leslie Mann and Paul Rudd's hash-brownie-infused mini-break, Rudd asking Mann to basically give him a visual prostate exam, and a montage of Leslie Mann's visits to various doctors (including the really warped OBGYN from "Knocked Up"), and a few others. But it's really not enough to save the movie from completely dawdling on without an objective or real purpose. Funny vignettes are good, but I'd really like it better if the jokes paid service to an actual story.
The performances are fantastic overall. Mann and Rudd are game for another go, both keeping consistent with the characters established in "Knocked Up," while showing enough growth to reflect their attempts at making these characters a lot more realistic than your average comedy archetypes. The writing for Deb and Pete is also very real and sobering, so props to Apatow on that. But it wouldn't work out if not for Mann and Rudd. John Lithgow and Albert Brooks are also amazing as the fathers of Deb and Pete, respectively. Brooks really gets a chance to strut his comedic talents in ways we haven't seen in years. And Lithgow does a lot with a fairly limited role (which is the point of his character, as a neglectful father to Deb). Jason Segel and Charlyne Yi also both return as Jason and Jodi from "Knocked Up," but oddly enough, they're a lot less funny this time around. Charlyne honestly gets a little grating at times, doing her best to mug the camera with her "I'm so incoherently hopped up on substances it's supposed to be over-the-top funny" but a lot of her gags fall flat. As does Segel's, who fares better than Charlyne, but this certainly isn't his A-game, sadly. Oddly enough newcomers Megan Fox and Melissa McCarthy end up doing better. This might be Fox's best performance to date (not saying much, but it's like having an F-student son or daughter score a C+, so yay for her!) as Desi, the suspected crooked employee at Deb's boutique, who helps Deb realize her inner-fun side. And McCarthy doesn't have too much screen time as the mother of the teenage boy Deb's daughter has a crush on, but her scene in the principal's office with Mann and Rudd is one of the best written, hilarious scenes of the movie. And of course, one of the highlights of the movie, Apatow's own children, Maud and Iris, reprising their roles as Deb and Pete's daughters, who are quite good for young actors of their age. Iris in particular has some of the more adorable/heartwarming scenes in the movie, while Maud is hilarious, capturing the essence of the crazy, moody teenager, complete with "Lost" obsession and newly dropped F-bombs.
The writing, as stated before, tries to capture reality, and does a good job of it. And when it's funny, which is often, it's very very funny. But the lack of story and the dragging pace really affected my enjoyment so much, that regardless of how funny or real the movie was, I just sort of wanted it to end. I was on board for the first 90 minutes, but then it really just ended up continuing, but, ironically enough, it all led to a very rushed ending that felt like there was no resolution or proper conclusion for all the issues introduced in the film. And perhaps Apatow's point was that there are no easy answers or easy resolutions to things in life--particularly when you're 40. And I'm guessing his intention was to make things as realistic as possible rather than giving us a happy-go-lucky Hollywood ending. But why? Why couldn't we have that? It worked for "Knocked Up" and "40-Year Old Virgin." So why couldn't we have it here? The movie just ends with Pete and Deb summarizing a game plan to fix their issues, and that's it. A long film with lack of real direction, that leads to nothing satisfying. To me that just wasn't good enough, sadly. And overall that's how I feel about the movie.
Now I can't outright hate the film, considering the movie's humor and great performances, but I think this could have been salvageable with a good, more focused story and a tighter running time. I mean "Virgin" and "Knocked" were long too, but with a real story objective we were invested in the length and the pacing. Since "40" has no real goals or story; we're just going through skit after skit, and all of it feels overly long. It's efforts like "Funny People" and "This is 40" that really make me miss Apatow from the "Freaks and Geeks" to "Knocked Up" days. Let's hope the next project becomes a return to form.
Overall Grade: B-
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