Pentuple Bill Mini Musings: 40s, Fields, Valleys, Bars, and Jurors...

This Is 40:
What's it about?
The 'sort of sequel' to Knocked Up, centred on previous side-characters Pete and Debbie, and their friends and family.
Who would I recognise in it?
Paul Rudd, Leslie Mann, John Lithgow, Albert Brooks, Megan Fox, Jason Segel, and more Apatow chums.
Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
Apatow drifted into overlong and self-indulgent territory with Funny People, which was very funny very frequently, but which was decidedly too long and lacked a sense of propulsion. Similarly, This Is 40 is missing any real sense of narrative drive - it's more like a series of sketches featuring the same characters each time - and while, again, there's an awful lot of funny moments throughout, you can't help but feel that at 134 minutes, Apatow's been allowed to indulge himself simply because he makes money. He may be very successful, and very funny, but that's no excuse to throw away narrative purpose and on-point storytelling.

The real miss-step with the film, however, is the lifestyle of Pete & Debbie's family. They apparently have financial worries - Debbie's store is only breaking even, while Pete's indie record label is sinking fast - but they live in a vast house, drive two flash cars, can indulge themselves with personal fitness trainers, nights out, and even a weekend at a fancy hotel retreat (literally right after bemoaning their money problems) - and then there's all the expensive stuff they own. It's bizarre for them to then tighten their belts by taking their kids' iPods, iPads, and iMacs (already paid for) off of them, and limiting the WiFi use (again, already paid for).

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