More like This is Crap.
Harsh. &, honestly, this, the latest Judd Apatow film (only his 4th), is an entertaining film. It's funny-cute more than uproarious. It's simplistic. It's certainly not terrible, but once the credits rolled all I could think about was how half-finished it felt. How nothing added up. &, sadly, that Judd Apatow has grown old enough to just not have it anymore.
This is 40 takes Paul Rudd's family from Knocked Up and makes a movie out of them. I would have rather seen another movie with Seth Rogen's character from that film. Not that Paul Rudd isn't funny. He is. But this film incorporates the whole Apatow clan...and the three of them just aren't as interesting or entertaining as Paul Rudd by himself. Rudd's wife in the film, Leslie Mann, is Apatow's wife in real life, which is super creepy because Mann shows her tits twice in the film...and is in love with a different man...and Apatow's kids play the kids in the film...which is very strange (the youngest isn't at the age to be able to make a coherent decision to say no). The plot is basically a family arguing. That's hilarious, right? No. But Apatow has always combined sweetness and real-life with comedy, unfortunately the sap has overtaken the edge. Remember The 40 Year Old Virgin and how exciting and wild and thrillingly alive and fresh it was? Apatow's last two pictures, this one and the almost-awful Funny People, have been too serious minded and thus dull, diluted, stale. This is 40 feels like a Hallmark movie.
The one saving grace is the rest of the cast. Chris O'Dowd and Jason Segal are so amusing that I wish this film was only about them. Megan Fox looks good but proves how much of a terrible actress she is (not a shock). Albert Brooks is great. & that's kind've it.
The big problem is that nothing goes anywhere. Leslie Mann owns a store. Someone is stealing. Um...why? What's the point or payoff? There is none. John Lithgow plays Mann's father who hasn't been in her life for seven years. Does that go anywhere? No. The daughter is enjoying a marathon of the TV show Lost. You could make a whole movie making fun of that. Does that plot go anywhere? No. There aren't even any Lost jokes. What the fuck?
Rudd does have a few funny lines...but they all come off as lines he improvised. Which means Apatow has lost his spark since he wrote this thing. They all lose it. Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained is the latest example. Both Django and This is 40 aren't bad films. They're entertaining. But the earlier greatness is gone from these guys. It's sad. ** (out of ****)
