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Review: This is 40

By Christine Petralia

Image courtesy of Universal Pictures

December 23, 2012


I love realistic films, which is when I saw they were making a sort-of sequel to ‘Knocked Up,’ I couldn’t wait for the release. And ‘This is 40’ doesn’t disappoint. Leslie Mann, in her first  starring role, and Paul Rudd are fantastic together as they ‘reprise’ their roles as Pete and Debbie.



The film starts with Debbie (Mann) and Pete (Rudd) having sex in the shower. When he lets her in on the secret that he took Viagra, she gets pissed at him and immediately assumes that she doesn’t turn him on anymore. It is also Debbie’s 40th birthday, but she refuses to acknowledge the number and insists she’s turning 38.

And in an effort to get out of her mid-life crisis, Debbie tells Pete that turning 40 is just the beginning and that she wants to make changes to better their lives and their children’s lives. Some of those items include eating better, quitting smoking, working out, letting go of resentment and cutting out electronics, though this one is mainly for the kids, which does not go over well with Sadie (Maude Apatow) and Charlotte (Iris Apatow). In the middle of all this change, Pete finds out that his record label is not doing well and he has to sell the house to make ends meet, something he does not tell Debbie.



As the pair navigate the new changes, trouble ensues, including Sadie, 13, lashing out at the no-electronic rule, and Pete’s father getting upset he’s not getting the hand-outs Pete has been giving him. The two are on edge, especially with Debbie worrying about if Pete still loves her and wants to be married. Add to that news that at 40 Debbie is pregnant with their third child, something she fears Pete does not want.



As with every Judd Apatow film, there is conflict and then resolution in the end. But it is always a realistic resolution, not that ‘happily ever after’ crap. ‘This is 40’ basically ends with the pair saying, ‘we’ll figure it out, we always do.’



Part of my appeal to Apatow films is how true to live they are. And I’m pretty sure I read somewhere that some of the scenes were based off of his marriage with Mann, including the hiding in the bathroom to play games. And I love that the children in the film are actually Apatow’s children.



Throw in Jason Segel as Debbie’s personal trainer, Megan Fox as one of her clothing shop employees and Melissa McCarthy as the mother of a boy in Sadie’s class and you have the perfect film. While I love Mann and Rudd, the supporting cast definitely rounded out the movie, with McCarthy almost stealing the show with a scene in the principal’s office. And the scene where Segel hits on Fox’s character has some one-liners you will be repeating back to your friends.



I highly recommend seeing ‘This is 40’ at some point, as it really is a film that will have you laughing throughout the entire time, if not just at the characters, at the real-life situations, such as when Pete farts in bed or when the pair wants some alone time only to be bothered by screaming, fighting kids. And if I look half as good as Debbie does at 40, it would be a blessing.

My two complaints though were the fact that Katherine Hegel and Seth Rogan didn’t make an appearance at any point. I thought it was a little weird that Pete and Debbie were having birthdays and her sister was not around. My other complaint was that a lot of the scenes in the trailer were not in the film. I guess I’ll just have to wait for the Blu-Ray comes out for deleted scenes.

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