I have to admit that I’m kind of stunned to look at Judd Apatow’s resume and see he has only been a writer-director on four movies: The excellent “40 Year Old Virgin” (2005) and “Knocked Up” (2007), the disappointing “Funny People” (2009) and now “This Is 40,” which follows a side couple from “Knocked Up,” Paul Rudd’s Pete and Leslie Mann’s Debbie.
Being a “Freaks and Geeks” and “Undeclared” fan, I used to get fired up about Apatow movies, but this one kind of snuck up on me. The previews looked merely OK, like it would be lightly dramatic and not filled with the belly laughs of his two really funny movies. As it turns out, “This Is 40” is not only a complete recovery from “Funny People,” it’s his best movie yet. I probably laughed more at some movies in 2012 (this was a strong year for comedy), but no other movie was so filled with genuine, from-the-heart laughs.
Rudd, of course, is likable every second he’s on screen, even if he’s sitting on the can playing web Scrabble, farting in bed or asking his wife to examine his anus. I don’t remember Mann being quite this lovable before, though. Although “This Is 40” follows the standard rom-com template, Apatow guides it in a smooth, less blunt fashion than you might expect.
Furthermore, the roster goes so much deeper than the couple, and there are so many funny little side plots, that the pressure isn’t totally on the two leads (who, by the way, have great chemistry). Melissa McCarthy, for example, absolutely steals a scene as Catherine, a mom who calls Pete and Debbie into a meeting with the school principal after she finds out Debbie yelled at Catherine’s son for insulting Debbie’s daughter on Facebook. Pete and Debbie’s daughters, played by Apatow’s and Mann’s daughters Maude and Iris, get some attention, too. Sadie (Maude Apatow) is obsessed with “Lost” and, naturally, modern gadgets. The scene where she reacts to her parents’ suggestions that she “build a fort outside” is classic (“Build a fort?! Outside?!”) because it’s both ridiculous and a perfect illustration of the generation gap.
There are humorous touches about Debbie’s angst over turning 40, notably when her grandmother tells her that 40 is just a blink away from 90, plus a montage of check-ups at the doctor’s office. However, “This Is 40” never gets caught up in aging jokes or fears. In fact, while the couple certainly has their problems, none of them seem specific to the Big Four-Oh. Really, we’re just talking about family, work and financial issues here like you might find on “Parenthood,” only with a lot more f-bombs smoothly dropped into conversations (although he doesn’t need them to be a good writer, as shown by his TV work, Apatow works swear words into his dialogue like a maestro): Pete’s record label is struggling, and someone’s stealing from the clothing boutique Debbie owns.
While the “no technology except for a half-hour in the evening” plot line gets a free pass because Maude Apatow is so good at playing the frustrated teen, the thread about Pete’s dad (Albert Brooks) borrowing too much from him didn’t really work for me. What kind of dad borrows that much money from a son who his himself in financial straits? The connection between Debbie’s biological father (John Lithgow) and the way Debbie judges Pete is a bit of a stretch, too. And, of course, with all these characters and plots, the usual Apatow criticism will apply yet again for antsy theater-goers: The movie feels a bit long, at two hours and 14 minutes.
But those are minor qualms. “This Is 40” is a snapshot of a family with believable and sympathetic problems, people worth rooting for, tons of chuckles and even a handful of out-and-out belly laughs. Just when I was starting to take Apatow for granted, he has added another gem to his resume.