This is 40 is a time capsule for the year 2012, when people were still obsessed with TV's Lost and Mad Men and social media was still in its infancy (compared to now.)
This is a snap shot of American family life as couple Pete (Paul Rudd) and Debbie (Leslie Mann) find themselves turning 40 (pretending they're not) and reevaluating their lives together and on their own.
Pete is a (financially challenged) record company executive who works alongside Chris O'Dowd's Ronnie, and who only has one big client, a client who no longer sells. Wife Debbie is concerned that Megan Fox's escort Desi is stealing from her shop, while also getting into shape with the help of Jason Segel's inappropriate trainer.
The couple are raising two daughters (the Lost obsessed, bickering), Sadie (a very good Maude Apatow) and her younger imaginative sister, Charlotte (Iris Apatow.)
This is 40 is entertaining (if uneven) with excellent acting and is well shot by director Judd Apatow. At times it goes off on a tangent and becomes too quirky, with silly frat boy humour and odd character choices (see: Pete's zany father and the possessed shop employee) but overall it's enjoyable with an all star cast. See below.
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OTHER CAST: Melissa McCarthy, Albert Brooks, John Lithgow, Lena Dunham, Bill Hader. SCREENPLAY BY: Judd Apatow. RUNNING TIME: 133 minutes. CERTIFICATE: 15 / R. USA.
