![\"thisisfortymovie\"](\"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/thisisfortymovie.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nDirector: \u00a0<\/strong>Judd Apatow T<\/span>his Is 40<\/em> is Judd Apatow’s ‘sort of’ sequel to Knocked Up,<\/em> which shifts its focus onto the lives of Debbie and Paul, a well-to-do suburbanite couple who live in a big house, have two daughters and are trying to make adjustments to their lives as they enter middle age.<\/p>\n This Is 40<\/em> doesn’t really concern itself with any major story arc.\u00a0 Instead, it offers up a slice of life, a glimpse into how one couple deals with the challenges of maintaining a relationship twenty years after the honeymoon.\u00a0 Clocking in at a running time of 135 minutes, this gives the film plenty of breadth to explore sexuality, careers, financial struggles, health, child-rearing and parental care.\u00a0 The film bounces between these topics in a busy week leading up to Paul’s birthday party.<\/p>\n I find my mileage varies a lot with Judd Apatow’s work.\u00a0 I’m a huge fan of his tv series Freaks and Geeks<\/em> but some of the films he produces I find to be rather samey as though they’re churned out on an assembly line.\u00a0 I didn’t find that to be the case here.\u00a0 This Is 40<\/em> is a very personal work and much of the minutae and day-to-day observations in the film ring true and feel like they are inspired by a snapshot from Apatow’s own family.\u00a0 Given that Apatow’s wife and two daughters are cast as the on-screen family, I take it that Apatow projected onto Rudd as an on-screen vessel for himself and his own musings about turning forty.<\/p>\n
\nWriter: \u00a0<\/strong>Judd Apatow
\nCast: \u00a0<\/strong>Leslie Mann, Paul Rudd, Maude Apatow, Iris Apatow, Jason Segel<\/p>\n