This Is 40 (2012)
After giving gifts and having a wonderful Christmas Breakfast, I took my family to see "This Is 40". Seems a sure hit, given its pedigree. It was written by Judd Apatow of "Freaks and Geeks", "40 Year Old Virgin" and "Knocked Up." It stars his wife Leslie Mann, frequent amiable star Paul Rudd even two of his kids are in it.
The trailer is funny and promising enough:
This sucker is 134 minutes long. You will get your money worth time wise!
The first hour of this is funny enough. You will get to see some of the things that make marriage fun, complex and sometimes frustrating played out. Virtually every member of the cast will get their turn getting some laughs out of us. At about the one hour mark, I was thinking this movie was better than his semi-misfire "Funny People". Aaand then it happened.
In the first hour, along with the laughs, we are introduced to some issues. Paul Rudd's dad, played by Albert Brooks, is a new Dad himself, although in his 60s, unemployed, and a constant economic burden to his son and their family. Leslie Mann's charater, Debbie, owns a store that is short cash. Paul Rudd's character, Pete, owns a record label for ex-super stars that is not doing well. So, money troubles all around. While the movie has some fun with the sex problems the 40 year old couple are having, everyone should know, the biggest cause of friction in marriage is not sex. It is money.
I love Judd Apatow, but wish he and others would stop doing something awful in the middle of their comedies/dramedies. They stop the comic and get on very serious downers. I can live with that if the downer portion is brief and then we can get back to the funny. My recollection of the "very special segments" of "40 Year Old Virgin" and "Knocked Up" were short enough. But, (not Apatow) Bridesmaids, for example, the downer portion followed her through the entire downward spiral of her life, making this unfortunate portion nearly a whole act of the movie.
Here, it is worse. The downer portion lasts about 90 minutes and is nearly unbearable. To the extent that problems are resolved, the resolution is way too brief and unsatisfying.'
I think this movie proves that Judd Apatow is too powerful for his own good. Those around him cannot tell him to cut and edit and re-write. You get an over long movie that is just, in the end, miserable. What is really sad to me is it didn't have to be. Wait for a non-director's DVD cut?
After giving gifts and having a wonderful Christmas Breakfast, I took my family to see "This Is 40". Seems a sure hit, given its pedigree. It was written by Judd Apatow of "Freaks and Geeks", "40 Year Old Virgin" and "Knocked Up." It stars his wife Leslie Mann, frequent amiable star Paul Rudd even two of his kids are in it.
The trailer is funny and promising enough:
This sucker is 134 minutes long. You will get your money worth time wise!
The first hour of this is funny enough. You will get to see some of the things that make marriage fun, complex and sometimes frustrating played out. Virtually every member of the cast will get their turn getting some laughs out of us. At about the one hour mark, I was thinking this movie was better than his semi-misfire "Funny People". Aaand then it happened.
In the first hour, along with the laughs, we are introduced to some issues. Paul Rudd's dad, played by Albert Brooks, is a new Dad himself, although in his 60s, unemployed, and a constant economic burden to his son and their family. Leslie Mann's charater, Debbie, owns a store that is short cash. Paul Rudd's character, Pete, owns a record label for ex-super stars that is not doing well. So, money troubles all around. While the movie has some fun with the sex problems the 40 year old couple are having, everyone should know, the biggest cause of friction in marriage is not sex. It is money.
I love Judd Apatow, but wish he and others would stop doing something awful in the middle of their comedies/dramedies. They stop the comic and get on very serious downers. I can live with that if the downer portion is brief and then we can get back to the funny. My recollection of the "very special segments" of "40 Year Old Virgin" and "Knocked Up" were short enough. But, (not Apatow) Bridesmaids, for example, the downer portion followed her through the entire downward spiral of her life, making this unfortunate portion nearly a whole act of the movie.
Here, it is worse. The downer portion lasts about 90 minutes and is nearly unbearable. To the extent that problems are resolved, the resolution is way too brief and unsatisfying.'
I think this movie proves that Judd Apatow is too powerful for his own good. Those around him cannot tell him to cut and edit and re-write. You get an over long movie that is just, in the end, miserable. What is really sad to me is it didn't have to be. Wait for a non-director's DVD cut?