Movie Review: This Is 40

This is 40 takes us back to Pete (Paul Rudd), wife Debbie (Leslie Mann) and daughters Sadie and Charlotte (Mann and writer/director Judd Apatow’s real-life children Maude and Iris) who we meet up with again five years after the events of Knocked Up. Apparently turning 40 means it’s midlife-crisis time, and this couple both hit the landmark birthday the same week, though Debbie is in denial, going as far as making her family put “38” on her cake, all the while planning a big party for her husband to endure.

Pete has quit the record company he worked for and gone out on his own so he can pursue artists that mean something to him. Of course doing that, and putting all his efforts into the rebirth of singer Graham Parker (a nice addition to the film), is not lucrative, and the family is mired in financial problems, all while living in a posh house and driving expensive cars (only in Hollywood). Debbie owns a clothing boutique store, and her best sales employee is Megan Fox (because who would say no to her?). She is missing $12,000 and is also not stable in her business. They are not fulfilled and they take it out on each other. There are a lot of funny bits in the movie, and Rudd and Mann are game for a lot of things, but there is also a lot of yelling, and that can get a bit old. Daughter Sadie (Maude Apatow) is a young teen who does her share of the yelling while her little sister Charlotte (Iris Apatow) gets to be cute and funny. The girls hold their own acting with Rudd and their real mom. The movie is laugh out loud funny in parts but then veers off into more serious themes, and at times can be uneven.

This Is 40 has its share of raunchy humor and sexual themes, but it also explores how Pete and Debbie came to be the people and parents they are. That obviously stems from the relationships with their fathers, which is not the usual “blame the mothers” plot device (in fact, we never meet their mothers). Lucky for us the fathers are played by Albert Brooks (Pete’s dad Larry) and John Lithgow (Debbie’s father Oliver). Larry is a serious mooch who has three young boys (triplets) with his second wife. He is perpetually broke and lazy; and Pete has been supporting him, even lying to Debbie about it. Surgeon Oliver is distant and aloof (and rich, which provides a good scene between him and Brooks), and when he attends Pete’s birthday party, he doesn’t even know who his granddaughters are at first. But the crazy family and guests at the party might just be able to bring him around.

Leslie Mann and Paul Rudd in “This Is 40.” © 2012 – Universal Pictures.

Jason Segel joins the party as a self-absorbed guru, aptly named Jason, who befriends Debbie while serving as her trainer/life coach. Apatow friend (and there are always repeats of those in his movies) Chris O’Dowd (Bridesmaids) plays Ronnie, one of Pete’s employees at the record label. Jason and Chris are both gaga for Fox’s character Desi, which is a fun sojourn to the marriage strife plot. Robert Smigel also plays “one of the boys” and is also at the party – he is deadpan and a welcome guest.

Apatow has obviously striven to make Pete and Debbie’s a “realistic” marriage, one that changes when you’ve been together for 15 years and have two kids. But sometimes the way this couple treats one another is simply not fun. Rudd and Mann are both adorable and engaging, and you really root for them, all the while wondering if and how they should stay together. Rudd gets to be a real jerk as Pete, which he likely enjoyed. Mann gets to be nagging, sexy, funny, and annoying. They don’t seem to have much to hold them together as a couple, but their differences make for some interesting comedy.

This movie has the Apatow footprints all over it, including the “club” of actors he likes (including his own family), and if you like his style, you will enjoy This Is 40. There are some nice touches, including a running joke concerning Tom Petty, a subplot involving the television show Lost, and a cameo by a cool rocker. There are also some cringe-worthy scenes, such as how Brooks’ character seems so uncommitted to his children, which is never really funny. But as long as you are in the state to remember that none of this is realistic (including the way Mann speaks to a kid who bullied her daughter), then it’s funny. Don’t over think it. And do not leave before the credits are over.