I’m trying to bite my tongue when it comes to Judd Apatow‘s This is 40, which I watched over the weekend and did not particularly enjoy. In fact, at the 90 minute mark I wished it would just end, but it had 45 minutes left to go. That said, there is now a red band featurette out that gives all the talking points you’ll find in most reviews, which is to say how true to life it is and how it unfolds the way life does and blah, blah, blah.
Reviews out there are calling it “hilarious” (a drastic exaggeration if there ever was one) and even my fiancee was upset I watched it without her saying how funny she thought it looked. But that’s just it, it’s not about humor, it’s about misery.
It does have some funny moments, but in the same way a sitcom has funny moments. In fact, it plays like a sitcom that was funny for five seasons and now suddenly is trying to get you invested in the drama between the characters while still tossing in comedic jabs and funny anecdotes.
Several of those brief funny moments are included in the featurette below, and some of them are alternate or deleted versions of scenes from the film. As for the film itself, it tends to focus more on how terrible life at 40 is and tries to divert your attention from the misery of family, children, deadbeat dads, failing at your job, etc. with a few over-the-top punchlines before hammering home the idea “you just gotta get through it.” Yeah, thanks for the insight.
As for the marketing saying “This is everyone’s story”, eh, if “everyone” has a giant house with a pool in the backyard, two cars, $80,000 to lend and enough money to start two small businesses, one of them being small record label… then yeah, this is everyone’s story, though I’ll say it’s not mine. I guess I am the outlier in this case.
But that’s enough. I’ll try and tap up a full review later on, closer to the December 21 release date. For now, check out the featurette below where Leslie Mann feels up Megan Fox and Paul Rudd pops some Viagra, both moments are in the film, though the feeling up moment is a bit different.
