Movie review: This is 40 | canada.com

This is 40

Three stars out of five

Starring: Paul Rudd, Leslie Mann, Jason Segel

Directed by: Judd Apatow

Running time: 133 minutes

Parental advisory: coarse and sexual language, sexually suggestive scenes

If you don?t remember Knocked Up, don?t feel bad. It wasn?t designed to be memorable. It was designed as laugh-friendly entertainment with a hint of earnest soul, and it succeeded to the tune of $150 million in box-office receipts.

It also cemented Judd Apatow?s place in Hollywood?s sidewalk of dreams as a smarter, more sophisticated brand of Adam Sandler because he could conjure humour without gratuitous amounts of cleavage, moronic boy behaviour or poopy pants.

But note the qualifier. He still employs these lowbrow devices; he just refrains from gratuitous quantities of this icky shtick because he?s able to fortify his formula with bona fide emotional notes.

In short, he?s a pretty good writer who understands the wobbles and wiggles of the human condition, which no doubt explains why the script for This is 40 is being promoted by the studio as an Oscar contender for best original screenplay.

Whether or not he deserves the prize is moot because any comedy that features its lead actor sitting on a toilet playing solo Scrabble on his iPad is not a front-runner. The same could be said for any comedy that employs audible flatulence, and yet, for all its infantile detail, This is 40 strikes a decidedly grown-up note.

The key is the central couple: Pete (Paul Rudd) and Debbie (Leslie Mann).

First seen in Knocked Up as the established couple with kids, Pete and Debbie were created as a dramatic and comic foil to Seth Rogen and Katherine Heigl. They were the ones who had already overcome the fading honeymoon, the bowel zone and the vomit-covered clothes of child rearing to create a true relationship and a lasting marriage.

As touchstones for the entire domestic experience, they are undeniably lovable and familiar because they look, talk, dress and behave a lot like the rest of us. And it?s a warm, fuzzy feeling to look at the big screen and feel a reality within reach, but all that recognition raises a new problem: ?Who cares??

The mundane, the banal and the everyday irritations of daily life are not the stuff of Hollywood feature films. As a tradition based in fantasy and a delusional understanding of social access, Hollywood has a very hard time with ?real people? stories and tends to leave such miniatures to the independent film world.

This is 40 offers some good insights into why Hollywood has such a hard time with the ordinary, and it comes down to ego. Like our central male hero Pete, Hollywood believes it is destined to make great, grand and meaningful works of commercial art. But like Pete, and like this movie as a whole, changing circumstance spurs truth ? and a slight deflation of self-esteem.

The cautionary plot is perfectly straightforward. Pete created a record label out of his own pocket because he?s a believer in old-fashioned talent: One of the first people he signed is an old folky who used to be a real presence, but has since faded into oblivion as a solo artist.

Pete is now bleeding cash and facing bankruptcy, but he?s too chicken to tell his lovely wife what?s really happening to their precarious finances. Meanwhile, Debbie is keeping a secret of her own: She?s pregnant.

She?s afraid to let Pete know about the new addition to the family because she knows they?re already stretched to the financial limit, and half the movie?s plot is generated through omission. Will she tell Pete, or won?t she?

There?s not all that much suspense behind this plot line, mostly because we trust Pete and Debbie?s loyalty to one another. They?re grown-ups, not pubescent sexpots. So even when the caked eyelashes of infidelity flutter, we?re pretty sure they?re solid enough to elude the tendrils of temptation.

If we didn?t, we probably wouldn?t like them as much as we do because we?d feel the edge of unpredictability and looming betrayal. We never get there, which is good for the overall empathy score, but essentially means we?re watching one very long sketch steeped in observational comedy.

Watch poor Pete with his legs in the air and a mirror up his derriere as he discovers he has a hemorrhoid. Watch poor Debbie hold her nose as she enters the bathroom after Pete?s morning toilette. Watch the whole family clash over musical taste, with Dad forever defining rock ?n? roll greatness while everyone else?s eyes glaze over.

It?s cute, but it?s fluff. Moreover, it?s fluff steeped in lowest common denominator sensibility.

There is nothing artful about Apatow?s script. It?s frequently crass and feels irritatingly over-thought as it tries to balance the challenges of marriage with the abstract beauty of being alive and in a loving, secure relationship.

The only redeeming feature is the film?s tender, human heart ? but even that feels exploited in Apatow?s awkward hands as he tries to explain his whole generation through two highly specific examples.

Pete and Debbie are believable as people, but they aren?t the Everyman. They are affluent and entitled and represent a narrow slice of America?s demographic pie. If Mann and Rudd weren?t so warm and comically adept, we could easily reject them as chronically self-absorbed whiners.

Luckily, they hold up as they reluctantly enter middle age because they find the small, subtle moments that mirror our own insecurities and unspoken phobias.

Apatow?s film seems to be going for something larger and more meaningful, stretching a decent comedy script into a meandering and frequently dreary two-hour drama with comic flourishes. In short, he wanted to grow up, but This is 40 proves Apatow?s appetite for fart humour is practically ageless.

CAPSULE REVIEW: This is 40 ? Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann reprise their roles from Knocked Up in this dramatic comedy that attempts to take the mickey out of middle age. While the spirit of the film is genuine and heartfelt, Apatow?s lowbrow humour and love of fart jokes leaves the script a little soggy. Still, the movie has heart ? and enough giddy moments to transcend the self-indulgent, two-hour running time. Rating: Three stars out of five. ? Katherine Monk

Source: http://o.canada.com/2012/12/19/embargoed-to-dec-19-movie-review-this-is-40/

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