Review of This Is 40 (2012) by Martin F — 19 Jul 2013

This Is 40 isn't just a misstep or a momentary stumble in Apatow's enormously successful career. It's a colossal fall from grace, an embarrassment in the same (although not as expensive) league as Three Amigos or Ishtar or similar examples of Hollywood egos run amuck. This Is 40 isn't funny, has no dramatic coherence and presents an astonishing array of unsympathetic characters doing unbelievably stupid and annoying machinations for over two hours. I cringed when Leslie Mann's husband had her ass felt up and displayed at a party. But by that time, Mann's whiney, nasally.

Voice had forced us to stop watching the film several times and reach for the Tylenol. We watched the last part of the film to find out if it could actually get worse. And, you know what, it does. Someone said it was the biggest disappointment of the year. But that's being far too kind. Here's a director who makes an excruciatingly bad, ego-trip movie and casts his wife and kids in the starring roles of the debacle ( and even supposed,y filmed it at his palatial home). That's beyond shameless.