Review of This Is 40 (2012) by Rick S — 26 May 2013

This movie seems to be getting a bad rap. Let me start off by saying, right off the bat, that it's infinitely funnier than the sour "Funny People," Apatow's last movie. This time around he is way more successful at combining humor with pathos.

Yes there is a lot of arguing and bitterness here, but it is tempered with enough comedy that it doesn't feel like torture to watch (as, say, "The Break-Up" did). Yes, it's way too long (I firmly believe that no comedy should be anywhere near two hours) but Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann are honest and likeable.

You WANT these two people to work out their problems. There are also some nice turns by the supporting cast, most notably Albert Brooks and John Lithgow. "This is 40" certainly isn't the laugh-out-loud raunch-fest that "The 40 Year Old Virgin" was, but it displays a more mature understanding of what it takes to survive a marriage and a family.