This Is 40 Review

• 10th Feb 2013

I’ve decided to start at the end with this review and deliver my conclusion first. This is an excellent Valentine’s date film. It doesn’t matter if it’s a committed relationship, a fledgling courtship or a first date. There are plenty of giggles and not much to offend; it’s an easy way to spend a couple of hours.

So, five years after Knocked Up, this sort of sequel sees Pete (Paul Rudd) and Debbie (Leslie Mann) as their 40^th birthdays approach a week apart. There are serious tensions in their marriage, exacerbated by monetary issues and a teenage, Lost obsessed daughter that can’t bear her younger sister. Sometimes, their issues seem far too big to overcome.

There are a lot of laughs in this film, don’t get me wrong, but they always seem to be at someone’s expense. A fair few times I cringed at myself, especially in those moments I found really funny. The laughs are tinged with a sense of pain and rawness; those emotional moments in life when if you don’t laugh, you’ll cry. It’s a step away from the typical gross out comedy of The 40 Year Old Virgin  or Pineapple Express and, in my opinion, makes this far superior.

This Is 40 has a star studded ensemble cast and, despite Apatow’s penchant for including his friends, they fit together brilliantly. From Chris O’Dowd and Lena Dunham working at the record label to Albert Brooks and John Lithgow as Pete and Debbie’s awful fathers. The real life Mrs Apatow (Mann) was also joined by the pair’s two children Maude and Iris in the shape of Sadie and Charlotte. Talk about keeping it in the family, Judd!

I have to admit, it took me a while to warm to Debbie, but I think that had more to do with Mann’s terrible screechy voice than anything else. The thing about her though, that I totally understood was her reluctance to turn 40. She insisted on having her 38^th birthday again but still wanted the extra special gift that comes hand in hand with an extra special birthday. I’m currently experiencing exactly the same turmoil only a decade earlier!

This Is 40 has received some rather harsh reviews but they’re definitely uncalled for. I implore you, go and judge it on its own merits and not the lofty expectations you may have of Apatow and if you’re looking for a date to take to see it when it opens on Valentine’s Day, I can check my diary!

Laura Johnson