In the "sort of sequel to Knocked Up"
Director Judd Apatow chooses to focus on the more serious
characters of Pete and Debbie, leaving the hi-jinks of Ben and
Allison behind. I haven't seen Knocked up in a while, but I
recall Pete (Paul Rudd) and Debbie (Leslie Mann) being the
more serious characters, at least they are the stereotypical
nuclear American family. For those looking for hilarious fart
gags, pot hallucinations, and general potty humor that made
'Knocked Up' Funny they will be sorely disappointed. While
there are those types of gags in the movie, it isn't done to
the same effect as in Knocked Up. This is a comedy about what
to do when life hands you lemons, and making lemonade isn't
your thing.
Take Pete for example. He is no longer working for The Man as
a music producer. He decided to go out on his own and run his
own label, putting out the music he likes. As far as I
can tell, the music Pete likes is Graham Parker and someone
will have to tell me why he is worth all of Pete's
fussing. Anyhoo, things aren't working out career wise
for Pete as he would have liked. He may be biking in the
middle of the day and wearing board shorts to work, but the
label isn't making money and he has to provide for his family.
Said family includes his wife and two daughters (Maude and
Iris Apatow), but also his dad (Albert Brooks) and his three
young sons. Pete hides his money problems from his wife, which
only increases the tension between them. They alternatively
love and loathe each other, from Pete's viewpoint he became
Garfunkel in his own life and blames Debbie for making him the
back up. He copes by eating his feelings, to which Debbie
screams at him to stop eating cupcakes. The cupcakes in the
movie looked delicious, and appear to be from the SoCal
institution Sprinkles.
Debbie has her own set of secrets, the
biggest one (SPOILER ALERT) is that she is pregnant. She wants
to tell Pete, but can't find the right time. When she asks
Pete about having another child, he replies that he wouldn't
want another child. They have their hands full with the two
they've got. The oldest, Sadie, is a teenager, and while
hormones may be raging she is also raging against a regime
that would take away her Wi-Fi and force feed her rabbit food
when she has done nothing to warrant this. Sadie fights with
her younger sister, adding to the stress of the parents.
Debbie wants the family to eat healthier, love one another,
and live in harmony. She thinks she is the Simon in the family
and starts the changes that everyone is against, never
checking with them if they agree with the changes. She is
acting out of love, and thinks that good intentions alone are
enough. And you know what they say about good intentions.
Clearly the changes don't take. And the more Debbie tries to
harmonize the family, the more they pull apart. Pete may eat
his feelings, and Debbie smokes hers. Which, when you stop and
think about it , isn't good for someone pregnant. Pete and
Debbie though will unite to defend Sadie, and in a showdown
with Melissa McCarthy they will lie and deceive the principal,
instead of lying and deceiving each other. Melissa's bit makes
it to the blooper reel, and really does steal the movie. Pete
and Debbie wonder, how did they get here?
To the outside world, Pete and Debbie have everything- the
kids, the house, they are their own bosses. What could
possibly be wrong with their lives? I have heard that this
movie is autobiographical of the Apatow family, and that for
Judd this was putting him and his family's issues out there.
To that end, the movie made me think how good people turn
irritable, defensive, and angry the more life throws at them.
Pete and Debbie's life is messy, things haven't turned out
according to expectations and they react on a very primal
level. They scream, they run away to try and avoid it, and in
the end they still have to deal with it. This movie did make
me a laugh at places, but it also made me think about how
chaotic life can get. This movie is of the notion that
comedy comes from pain.
Christopher's 2nd Take…
I commend my colleague for getting far more out of this
overlong mishmash of histrionics calling itself 'This is 40'
than I did. I heard this cat say that 'This is 40' was
so long that by the time it stumbled to the end it could've
been called 'This is 50'.
My hope with 'This is 40' was not for a zany, wacky,
Rogen-esque type comedy but considering I am kind of 40-ish I
was looking for a comedy that I could directly relate
to. Ummm…. no. Hell no. Pete and Debbie's
issues were so foreign to me, or to anybody I actually know,
that it was impossible for me to connect to this movie on any
conceivable level, and considering this movie is about 'real
life' to some extent, if you cannot get with what the
characters are going through, you will be lost for the next
two and half hours. And just so you know, if my teenage
daughter walks in my kitchen and starts dropping F-bombs on
me, chances are I won't have a teenage daughter anymore.
Also, as Lisa mentioned, this is purported to
semi-autobiographical for Jud and Leslie, though I doubt Jud
and Leslie have money problems. Now I do get that
wealthy, West Coast European Americans that live in eternally
sunny towns, have wonderful homes, drive BMW's and Lexus' and
have parties where Megan Fox swims in your backyard pool have
problems too… I just can't relate to these types of problems
is all. And is there ever going to come a time when
Megan Fox plays a regular character and not just some
unattainable illusion of the hot chick? How about a
schoolteacher or something? One that just teaches school
and her hotness in never an issue. I'm waiting for
that.
There were funny moments, heck… it was too damn long for
something not to be funny… and God bless John Lithgow playing
Debbie's absentee father because at least he imbued his
character with a certain amount of humanity that even I could
feel some sympathy for. But the rest of the movie and
the rest of these characters… Where Lisa noted that this film
was built on the notion that 'Comedy comes from Pain',
unfortunately I'd have say I was in pain while watching this
comedy.
