This is 40

Django Unchained was sold out, so we saw this instead. It was like going to a restaurant expecting to order top sirloin, but instead getting mutton.

This is 40 takes the most annoying character from Judd Apatow’s Knocked Up and makes her the central character. Leslie Mann is not an actress I was to see on screen very much, and this character in particular is a bitchy, screaming irritation. Paul Rudd is usually likable, but he gets pulled in by Mann’s tractor beam of annoyance as well.

This movie sucked. Not only was it rarely funny (though it did have some laugh out loud moments, I’ll give it that), but it was a complete mess of a story. There was no real sense of direction or purpose, and I kept wondering “where is this going?” We know there’s going to be a birthday party at some point, but otherwise we just watch them live out their miserable lives. Fun stuff.

Another huge problem with the story is the smorgasbord of subplots and supporting characters. These random subplots seem to come from no where, hang around for a while, then disappear. They make no coherent sense in the context of the overall movie. And the supporting characters are almost all completely useless. The only one who is fleshed out is Albert Brooks playing Paul Rudd’s father. There are two characters (Rudd’s biking partner and his.. wife maybe?) who briefly pop up earlier in the film, I’m not even sure we know their names, then are at the party scene acting as if they are important parts of these people’s lives.

This is a terribly constructed film. There is an extended blooper with Mellisa McCarthy during the credits which sums up what Apatow and company were doing with this film; making it up as they go along, trying to throw in awkward movements which may be funny (but usually aren’t), and just basically being a rambling mess. Oh yeah, did I mention its LONG? I actually drifted off a couple times, once waking up to an elbow in the ribs. It goes nowhere and takes a long time to get there. Oh, I forgot to mention the completely fabricated happy ending which I did not believe for a second. These two people are simply not happy together and a final scene showing them smile at each other is not going to convince me that they are. Sorry Judd.
4/10