If you're looking for something to do with your family (and if your family can handle some R-rated humor), go see This Is 40 after eating some delicious food and enjoying each other's company. Or go see The Hobbit: An Expected Journey, which is an adventure the whole family can enjoy, no matter your age.
The happiest of holidays to you and yours this season!
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This Is 40: R-Rated Family Fun!
viewed and reviewed by Adam Stutsman
Writer/director Judd Apatow’s signature style of blending
gut-busting comedy and real, heartbreaking drama is one I’ve yet to see even
remotely duplicated. 2009’s Funny People
split audiences with its lengthy run time (2 hours and 15 minutes is, for some,
quite long for a comedy) and its heavy dramatic tone that left the viewer’s
laughs to have to fight through tears. However, the plot and characters were
some of Apatow’s best writing, and I for one adored the autobiographical feel
of it. Because of these reasons, I have been eagerly awaiting his follow up, a
sort-of-sequel spin-off to Knocked Up
called This Is 40.
This Is 40 follows
Pete and Debbie, the dysfunctional couple from Knocked Up who filled the background with laughs and uncomfortable
squirms, as they both hit the 40 year-old milestone. The story is very
slice-of-life, since most of the couple’s problems come from money, family
(parents and children, often at the
same time), and each other. Pete’s record label is failing, and an employee is
stealing from Debbie’s store; Pete’s father is sucking money from the family
while Debbie’s father is hardly present at all; Pete and Debbie’s daughters are
getting older and far more technology-savvy than either of the 40’s try to be;
and Pete and Debbie fantasize about murdering each other. No matter where you
turn, stress and pain run rampant. But since this is an Apatow film, every
situation is filled with moments that make you wonder if you should laugh or
cry, so I tend to just do both.
This type of comedy is not for everyone, however. Many of
the situations are uncomfortable to watch, and some viewers simply can’t find
reason enough to laugh. For instance, the film opens with a shower sex scene
(you don’t see anything, calm down) that leads to an argument about Viagra and
a rant about turning 40. The viewer can choose to laugh at this, or to read
further into it and realizing just how heartbreaking growing older can be. To
me, this makes everything seem more real; one can laugh or cry as a reaction to
life’s messes, or choose to do both.
As always with an Apatow film, sex jokes and vulgarity are
to be found in almost every scene, but there is a surprising sparseness of
marijuana jokes considering how many there were in all of Apatow’s other joints
(pun intended). If you can’t handle hearing foul language, dark jokes (a
hilarious Melissa McCarthy telling a school principal she would be set on fire
or Albert Brooks telling his son, Paul Rudd, that Rudd’s mother wanted him
aborted), sexual innuendos, or all of the other things that weave through
conversation in every day life, you may choose to avoid this film. However, if
those things don’t bother you, and you’re wanting a real look at turning 40
while trying to manage work, family, and life in general, while also wanting to
laugh until you cry (if you aren’t already crying), I recommend This Is 40. I would argue that this is
Apatow’s most mature, most skillfully written, and (although not funniest)
overall best film.
Another great title: The
40 Year-Old Not-Virgins
