Review: This is 40

This is 40 is a perplexing film.  Not so much the premise or the plot, but perhaps the execution.  I say perhaps because I am not entirely sure.  Here’s the thing, there are some very good scenes in this movie, and a strong number of laugh out loud moments expertly executed by talented actors with great comedic timing, and yet as I walked out of the theater, I didn’t feel like I watched a great movie.  In fact, in a lot of ways, Judd Apatow’s latest film barely feels like a movie at all.    But I digress.

This is 40 is a spin off of Apatow’s 2007 hit Knocked Up, following up on the lives of Paul Rudd’s Pete and Leslie Mann’s Debbie as they stand on the cusp of their forties.  The movie is an authentic albeit somewhat sensationalized look at some of the issues that can befall married couples as their respective families mature.  Daddy issues, communication, managing children’s access to technology, finances, the film runs the gamut of challenges facing spouses, parents, and professionals.

So here’s the thing, there are some incredibly funny scenes as well as others that are insightful, witty, and fun.  Apatow has written a script that captures the essence of what it feels like to transition into middle age.  The problem then with the movie is the connective tissue between these moments.  There is some semblance of an overall arc to the film revolving around Rudd and Mann, but there’s not enough there to really drive the movie and make it feel like something more than a collection of vignettes.  This makes you wonder what the point of the narrative really is and thus makes the proverbial whole feel less than the sum of the individual parts.

In this film you are treated to the garden variety Paul Rudd performance.  He plays an affable, funny every man and does it well, but there is nothing fresh or exceptional about this turn.  Ditto for Leslie Mann who effortlessly slips into the role of the somewhat difficult but mildly endearing wife as she has so many times in the past.  There is nothing groundbreaking about her work, but that’s not what the role calls for.  As for the rest of the cast, Maude and Iris Apatow do a nice job rounding out the family though at times Apatow seems to indulge his real-life children with scenes that run far too long or seem oddly out of place.  Robert Smigel, Melissa McCarthy, and Chris O’Dowd do an impressive job in supporting roles adding some valuable comedic elements to the movie, while John Lithgow, Albert Brooks, and Megan Fox (surprisingly) are decent contributors.

If you are over the age of thirty or if you have kids, there may be enough wit and humor in this movie to make it worth watching in the cinema.  However, if you thought Project X was a great movie, then you probably want to look elsewhere for entertainment (and reassess what you should consider entertaining).  Again, with so many superlatives and few complaints to go around it feels strange that I can’t give this movie a stronger endorsement, but at the end of the day a narrative needs to take you from point A to some other destination and This is 40 never really goes anywhere at all.  My best advice is to make it a rental with moderate expectations and you will find yourself pleasantly surprised.

Standout Performance: Jason Siegel as Jason.  Siegel is hilarious, reprising his role from Knocked Up and his scenes with Chris O’Dowd are some of the best in the movie.