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.

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Review: Friends with Kids

Friends with Kids is a textbook example of the good ole bait and switch.  Trailers, one-sheets, and other marketing materials feed the consumer with a steady diet of Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, John Hamm, and Chris O’Dowd.  The goal clearly is to create an association between this film and the quartet’s last project together - Bridesmaids.  In doing so your expectations align to that film experience – the laugh out loud humor, the witty repartee, and just the right amount of sentimentality. However, in reality you are getting something completely different with this movie.  Instead of the aforementioned four, you are getting Adam Scott and Jennifer Westfeldt weaving their way towards parenthood in a overly contrived plot that tries to take aim at the conventions of parenthood and relationships.  Instead of humor, you get soapbox preaching. In lieu of charm, you get drab.

The film provides us two protagonists who believe the traditional concepts and conventions of parenthood are silly and frivolous after watching the mundane lives of their friends and so they decide to platonically have a baby together.  Even as you are reading that last sentence I would venture a guess that you have already figured out how this movie will end for our two protagonists.  The problem then  is that before we - the viewers - can get to that incredibly telegraphed conclusion, you must first endure the plot.

If the movie had only one message to disseminate and if it were actually a useful one, then there might have been value in the almost two hours I spent watching it.  But sadly the plot takes off in so many directions and tries to address so many different relationship issues that it all gets lost in a morass of social angst.  What truly exasperates things is that by the third act, you realize that there are no real answers to be had, no anecdote that makes all the onscreen drama make sense.  Like a dog, the plot seems to be chasing its own tail in one big circle. 

The cast in this movie does very little to acquit itself or the film.  Jennifer Westfedlt and Adam Scott star in this movie but in all honesty are not suitable-for-primetime-players.  Their best work clearly is as bit parts.  That the duo is supported by a group of very successful actors makes their lack of star panache more glaring.  As for the aforementioned  supporting cast, the four Bridesmaids alums are sadly underutilized and appear void of the dynamic qualities that define each of their respective talents.  It’s not so much that they are not trying but more that their respective characters are one-dimensional.  Everything they do feels so bland and muted.

I am going to be honest and disclose that this movie put me to sleep for about 10 minutes between the first and second acts.  That alone makes this movie no better than a C- though even that grade may be a bit generous.  I don't think the movie is an abomination or anything to that extent but it is inconsequential and sterile with no one good redeeming quality. I would be hard pressed to recommend this film even if it were on network TV, because it is just not entertaining.  If these kinds of movies really are your cup of tea, then I would recommend you keep an eye out for This is 40 starring Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann.  Hopefully director Judd Apatow can stem the tide of his Sandler-like descent into mediocrity.

Standout Performance: Megan Fox. She may not be able to act, but she is carving out a little bit of a niche channeling her real-life persona into some smaller roles.

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