Review of This Is 40 (2012) by Samuel R — 12 Sep 2013

Kind of disappointed, lots of laughs but there's no reasonable story there to hold it all together. Plus, it's just way too long, lots of needless moments, like spoiling the series Lost for those who have yet to sit down and watch it, and too many moments felt similar to other popular moments from Apatow's other films.

The cast is normally solid, but often the two leads (Rudd and Mann) are used as product placement devices (throughout you'll notice lots of tedious references to iPods, iPads, ITunes, and all that garbage) and it's beyond annoying.

Unfortunately, this film comes off as a cash-grab with seldom jokes that actually work. The biggest problem with the film is that these characters supposedly have money problems, yet by the end, that all evaporates with maybe a line or two of dialogue that may fly over your head (like it did mine).

It's tough to care about characters when everything is just fine for them throughout, apart from a couple of fights they have often about irrelevant stuff throughout, and there are no sort of stakes at all.

I'll give the film some credit though, Megan Fox is really funny and sexy in the film, Melissa McCarthy steals the show at two points in the film (easily the funniest scenes in the film, they even show an alternate version of her scene at the end credits where the actors can't stop laughing but McCarthy keeps her dialogue going despite that) and, of course, Rudd and Mann are good throughout (but the lazy writing and lack of story really sets them back).