Judd Apatow is back, with Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann as a couple of parents with two daughters....traveling the seas of middle age family life with all of its tension in tow in "This is 40." It is supposed to be the older person's version of 2006's "Knocked Up", but the difference is that "Knocked Up" had a better cast with better chemistry and didn't drag on for over two hours.
The positives will be gotten to first. The chemistry between Rudd and Mann is natural...both actors can deliver genuine laughs as well as serious moments when called for. Rudd carries the movie for as long as he can, but eventually even his act gets old and you just wish it would all end.
I believe the first culprit of this disappointment of a movie ( an understatement) could be the casting. Rudd and Mann were fine- even though at some points it felt like they had too much dialogue in scenes, and repeated the same old over and over again. The older daughter is funny at first as well, but every single other line is said in the same impatient, annoyed tone. Her constant pessimistic ways reminded me of the girl from Homeland. Just get over yourself already and start helping the family, damn it. The younger daughter is funny, too- but even in some scenes you think to yourself that there is an awkward pause here.
The only other stand out in the rest of the movie was Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids) who is one of the best female comedic talents- if not the best- in the movies today. Her delivery was brilliantly timed with great tone and passion and legitimately made me laugh out loud, especially after the movie is over and they show a few outtake clips. Megan Fox is obviously hot in this, but more of a side thing than a main character.
Albert Brooks, who play's Rudd's broke father who always asks for money yet has three adopted three year old sons, is funny for all of five minutes. Then he sort of hangs around the rest of the movie, dropping very unfunny lines and just being a general pain in the ass.
John Lithgow plays Mann's dad, a robotic, uncharismatic enigma who shows no personality until the end in which he explains why he is the way he is in an attempt for us to give a crap about their relationship after almost two hours of walking in circles....by the time they get to it, no one cares.
The second reason this movie just does not work is its razor thin plot depth. A forty year old female fears getting old and lies about it? You don't say! Her husband tried to make her not feel old while not wanting to upset her and tell her the truth of how his music label is failing? (Hello, economy.) He dreads bringing up the fact that they'll have to sell the house to make ends meet if Graham Parker's reunion CD doesn't rake in a huge profit. (Surprise, it doesn't.) So your label is failing, and you choose to stick to what has caused you to fail? Being loyal to one thing is well and good and all until it affects what you are bringing to the dinner table at home. Like any guy out there wouldn't choose to change his gameplan? Come on, Judd.
The third and biggest issue with this movie is the length, Comedies are not designed for two hours and thirteen minutes. Comedies are supposed to be light, easy and fun and not go beyond an hour and forty five minutes.
You sit there and literally wish he would say, "Guys, let's just stop here." As funny as Rudd can be, and as well as Mann and the two children (Apatow's daughters) can be entertaining, all three get very tiresome. The movie spends the majority of its two hours and thirteen minutes displaying the dysfunction of their family as a whole, whether its the two daughters bickering, the parents fighting, or the older daughter fighting with the mother. I felt after a while like I was watching a real life family delve deeper into a depression, not escaping the negativity of the real world while I watch a movie ( a comedy no less). That is not why people go to see comedies.
After an hour and a half, I literally looked at my watch every five minutes, and began apologizing to my date about the movie dragging on. I was waiting for something...anything to signal some sort of beginning of a conclusion to the movie.Most movies, whether action, comedy, thriller, drama, documentary- have a sort of pacing to them in which you can begin to sense when the final act is playing. Not this movie. I had no idea when that was going to begin, and it really threw me off. In the end when Rudd is in the hospital, after Mann finds out about their newest "obstacle", she wonders how they will afford it. Rudd replies "I don't know." Then she suggests selling the house out of nowhere, and he agrees just like that. A problem he's had telling her all movie, and in ten seconds, it's all good? Well that makes sense.
After its all said and done, I give TI40 a solid 6 out of 10. It as no where near perfect, poorly paced and generally unfunny. Any other rating would be too generous.
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