Happy Valentine’s day everyone! If you’re stuck thinking of what to do tonight, whether your treating a loved one to a night out or you fancy boycotting the romance altogether, This Is 40 could be the perfect solution to your Valentine dilemmas…
From comedy genius Judd Apatow comes the sort-of sequel to the 2007 hit Knocked Up. Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann reprise their role as Pete and Debbie, the married couple trying to raise their two daughters (Mann and Apatow’s actual children, FYI), and keep the passion alive in their testing relationship. Filled with a lot of laugh out loud moments and a strange relate-ability factor, This is 40 is a sort-of comedy hit.
When we think back to Knocked Up, where Katherine Heigl and Seth Rogan spend one fruitful night together, we all remember that one very graphic scene where we see Heigl giving birth. Thankfully, you’ll have to tune in to One Born Every Minute if you want to see more of that. This is 40 focuses on the lives of Pete and Debbie exclusively as they battle financial difficulty, estranged parents, the troubles of bringing up a teenager and of course the terrifying event of turning 40 (so we’re led to believe).
Rudd and Mann have incredible chemistry on-screen, which must have been slightly strange having Mann’s husband directing, especially during the sex scenes which happen fairly regularly. Iris and Maude Apatow who reprise their role as the daughters of Rudd and Mann are excellent at acting, er, their age. Providing the slightly annoying at times day to day disputes of sisters, the Apatow girls clearly have a career in acting, thanks mainly to their brilliant Hollywood parents.
With special appearances from Megan Fox, Green Day star Billie Joe Armstrong, Jason Segal and Chris O’Dowd, This is 40 certainly has the cast of a brilliant comedy movie. What lets this film down is the storyline, which is no more exciting or different than the life of your every-day middle-class family. There is plenty of humour, however this doesn’t make up for the lack of interesting plot points that really drive a film forward. Call us old fashioned, but we really do love a good plot twist!
This would be a great film to watch with your friends on a quiet night in, plenty of laughs and an easy story to follow, but don’t expect anything too clever or special. If you liked knocked Up, 40 Year Old Virgin and Funny People then this is a film for you. Despite our fairly average rating, it does contain all the classic comedy moments that guarantee it’ll be a hit.
[rating=3]
