This is 40 (2012)

A sad final product of a movie that had quite a bit of potential, This is 40 was disappointing to say the least. Judd Apatow's "sort of prequel" Knocked Up was one of the funniest movies of its year, and it's a shame to see this film not live up to its predecessor.

When Debbie (Leslie Mann) turns 40, her husband Pete (Paul Rudd) does everything he can to console her, but his efforts are in vain as she always seems to see the negatives in everything in life. To put it simply, as soon as she hit the big four-oh, Debbie became a 'Debbie Downer'. Add in a hormonal daughter, problems with parents and in-laws, and two failing businesses into the mix and you've got yourself a bona fide mid life crisis. However, on typical comedy fashion, everything seems to work out at the end for the couple and they learn to pull themselves together.

Leslie Mann and Paul Rudd as problematic couple Debbie and Pete. Source: Screenit

Given the amount of ridiculous things that happen to poor Debbie, you would think that this movie would be your ab workout for the year. Unfortunately, only a handful of punchlines out of this movie were able to make me chuckle. And I say chuckle, as opposed to laugh because, frankly, this movie was not as funny as the commercials were making it out to be. Over promised and under delivered is the best way to describe it.

But it's not for a lack of trying. Mann and Rudd's on screen chemistry is a joy to watch, but it's muddled up by unnecessary and extraneous characters who confuse the plot rather than adding to it. Judd Apatow knows how to write funny jokes, but in this film he wasn't able to back them up with dialect. A good portion of the film was dedicated to mocking a character's obsession with Lost. And another portion was making fun of Debbie and Pete's lackluster sex life. Let's face it, it's easy to make sex jokes, and they are usually a safe bet to conjure a laugh, but there's a point where it's just gets over saturated and boring.

This is 40 was essentially a lady complaining about her life, which, to be blunt, we all do no matter what age we are. Every milestone birthday is just a reminder that life is getting shorter, which is a fear that Debbie learns to overcome. The one thing this movie teaches us, is to look past the current hardships and imagine all the positive things that can come in the future. Too bad it took only 130 painful minutes to get to the point.

Rating: 4/10