Film: This is 40

GENRE: Comedy
RATING: R for sexual content, crude humour & language
RUNTIME: 2 hours and 14 minutes
STARRING: Paul Rudd (I Love You Man, Knocked Up)
Leslie Mann (Big Daddy) Albert Brooks (Finding Nemo, Drive)
DIRECTOR: Judd Apatow (Funny People, The 40 Year Old Virgin)
WRITER: Judd Apatow (Knocked Up, Fun With Dick & Jane)
PLOT: A look at the lives of Pete and Debbie a few years after the events of Knocked Up.  

FIVE OBSERVATIONS:
1 Like almost every Judd Apatow film, this one is way too long. It’s the film that never ends. True, there are some very funny parts but the whole storyline meanders. Comedies should be 90 minutes. Apatow needs a lesson in streamlining. Fast and funny, it’s the rule of comedy. 
2 Since Apatow is directing his hot wife and two kids with Paul Rudd stepping in as dad/husband, I wonder who it is more awkward for during the intimate times, Apatow, Mann or Rudd. I assume his children are not present during those times.
3 Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids) is absolutely hilarious as a mother who has a breakdown in the principal’s office. The continuous outtake during the closing credits had me (and others in the theatre) in tears.
4 David Schwimmer, Art Garfunkle, and evenTom Petty don’t come off too well in this movie. Their name checks will simultaneously make you laugh and feel sorry for them.
5 If you haven’t seen the end of Lost, you may want to avoid this film. I know it’s been a few years but I ‘m sure a couple of people wished there was a spoiler alert. As a TV aficionado, I did enjoy the Lost and Mad Men comparison.

RECOMMENDATION: Wait for the DVD
UPCOMING REVIEWS: 2013 Film Preview