This Is 40 is the latest offering from Judd Apatow, following on from his ever growing list of incredibly mediocre and often far too long for their own good comedy films such as Funny People, Knocked Up and Pineapple Express.
Although This Is 40 keeps to the Apatow tradition of disappointing comedy spectacles, this is, for the sort of, but not really, the follow up to the 2007 film Knocked Up, said with a hint of sadness.
This Is 40 should not be amongst that list. It is not a bad film, far from it. It is disappointing because it has the potential, but fails to deliver. The story follows Pete and Debbie in the week they both turn forty. Debbie (Leslie Mann) and Pete (Paul Rudd) have both hit lows in their lives. Debbie struggles to cope with the idea of getting old, whilst Pete's financial worries start to escalate out of control as his recording studio nears bankruptcy. These problems put a strain on their marriage, their two children Sadie and Charlotte, and their lives as a whole.
The family dynamic played out by Rudd, Mann and Apatow's own kids, Maude and Iris, works well in a comedic-sense. However as the film drags on, so does the dialogue. Scenes are often overplayed, ruining funny dialogue by over playing the moment and thus losing the whole perspective of why it was actually funny in the first place. As like Funny People, when you feel the film is winding to a close This Is 40 drags itself through what seems like a lifetime of unnecessary footage, making the film far too long for its own good. Humour turns to despair as the film goes on, becoming less funny by the minute and more like a bad family drama as it dies a slow, painful death as Debbie and Pete rekindle their love for one another in an extremely cheesy final sequence.
It is a crying shame Apatow feels the need to drag his films out so much. A good ninety minute film is alive and well in this two and a quarter hour comedy/drama mess of a film. A talented cast is left to stew in a big pile of dog poop led horribly off course after a promising start full of hope and most importantly for a comedy film, humour. Must try harder, Judd.
Twitter: @FilmTrance
Although This Is 40 keeps to the Apatow tradition of disappointing comedy spectacles, this is, for the sort of, but not really, the follow up to the 2007 film Knocked Up, said with a hint of sadness.
This Is 40 should not be amongst that list. It is not a bad film, far from it. It is disappointing because it has the potential, but fails to deliver. The story follows Pete and Debbie in the week they both turn forty. Debbie (Leslie Mann) and Pete (Paul Rudd) have both hit lows in their lives. Debbie struggles to cope with the idea of getting old, whilst Pete's financial worries start to escalate out of control as his recording studio nears bankruptcy. These problems put a strain on their marriage, their two children Sadie and Charlotte, and their lives as a whole.
The family dynamic played out by Rudd, Mann and Apatow's own kids, Maude and Iris, works well in a comedic-sense. However as the film drags on, so does the dialogue. Scenes are often overplayed, ruining funny dialogue by over playing the moment and thus losing the whole perspective of why it was actually funny in the first place. As like Funny People, when you feel the film is winding to a close This Is 40 drags itself through what seems like a lifetime of unnecessary footage, making the film far too long for its own good. Humour turns to despair as the film goes on, becoming less funny by the minute and more like a bad family drama as it dies a slow, painful death as Debbie and Pete rekindle their love for one another in an extremely cheesy final sequence.
It is a crying shame Apatow feels the need to drag his films out so much. A good ninety minute film is alive and well in this two and a quarter hour comedy/drama mess of a film. A talented cast is left to stew in a big pile of dog poop led horribly off course after a promising start full of hope and most importantly for a comedy film, humour. Must try harder, Judd.
Twitter: @FilmTrance