This is 40

Pete (Paul Rudd), Debbie (Leslie Mann) and their two kids (Maude and iris Apatow) are back! In what is being billed as a sort of sequel to Knocked Up, This is 40 follows that wacky married couple from the aforementioned film. Their birthdays separated by mere days, Pete and Debbie are turning 40! Except Debbie thinks it is the worst thing ever and refuses to admit to it, so she is turning 38, again. Pete started his own record label, but is only signing older musicians with limited fan bases and the nostalgia factor just is not booming. Debbie owns a clothing boutique, but one of her two employees stole $5,000.00 and she has to figure out if it was the weird, quiet girl, Jodi (The always hilarious Charlyne Yi) or the sex pot Desi (the always sexy Megan Fox). Pete and Debbie argue endlessly, their kids, especially Sadie (Maude)yell all of the time and no one ever seems happy. In all honesty, This is 40 could easily be called #richwhitepeopleproblems.

If the description of the movie does not sound appealing, I do not blame you. Seriously, the movie is not terribly appealing in large chunks, but it is also flat out hilarious in large chunks. John Lithgow and Albert Brooks show up as Debbie and Pete's fathers respectively and the movie would be worth it for their scenes together. Both men are legends in acting/comedy and this movie is no different. Brooke has the bigger funnier role as a mooching father, but Lithgow's facial expressions alone are worth watching. The man can say so much with his long face. The two men liven up a sort of puttering second half of the film. I love Paul Rudd in anything and this is no different. He and Mann have a special kind of chemistry. It is uneasy and you are never sure if they want to beat the crap out of each other or love each other. It is that unpredictability that Director Judd Apatow is depending on. Apatow's movies are always a blend of shocking comedy and serious heart and This is 40 is no different, but something just did not click the whole way through for me.

Listening to two people with a giant house, who drive BMW's and Benz's, whine about having no money is tough to do. Both of these people own businesses, and I know that is stressful, but over two hours of listening to these rich people whine is a bit grating. Also, have you seen Leslie Mann in a bikini? hard to listen to a woman gripe about getting older and not being attractive, when she is still rocking that fabulous body. Mann is a funny actress and I have always found her to be endearing, but she went to a seriously whiny place in this movie and it did not work for me. I found Debbie to be the most obnoxious character in the world. It got to the point where I really believed all of these people would be better off if Pete and Debbie got divorced. I know it is supposed to be how real couples fight, but there is a point where it is too much.

That is not to say there are not flat out hilarious moments. Pete self checking his ass for bumps killed me. Jason Segal and Chris O'Dowd trying to get with Megan Fox was a great sequence, and Sadie's obsession with LOST was a great running gag (I get it Sadie, I get it). Also there are those great Apatow conversations that feel so fresh and unrehearsed, but this film, has much less of those. This is 40 felt more conventional in how the story was being told. There was less of those great moments with secondary characters. I know Melissa McCarthy has become quite a crowd pleaser, but I did not find her cameo too appealing. It was kind of obnoxious (her outtakes in the credits were hilarious though). This whole movie just felt one beat wrong. There was something off. The pacing drags and the movie could use some trimming, but typically when Apatow's movies get too long, I do not mind because something hilarious was kept in, even if it did not make total sense. Here it just felt too slow.

This is 40 has more hits than misses, but it has more misses than I am used to from Apatow. I am one of the rare people who loved Funny People. I love the way he mixes sex humor and genuine heart, but here it was like there was not enough of either of them.

Final Grade: B-