THIS IS 40

THIS IS 40
Written and Directed by Judd Apatow
Starring Paul Rudd, Leslie Mann and Albert Brooks

Debbie: F@#k 40. 40 can suck my d#@k.

Birthdays can be messy but they can still be fun. The same can be said of comedy guru, Judd Apatow’s latest, THIS IS 40. Apatow’s fourth film is being billed as the “sort-of sequel” to KNOCKED UP, because it catches up with two of the supporting characters from that film, Pete and Debbie (Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann), rather than the main protagonists (played by Seth Rogen and Katherine Heigl, neither of whom makes an appearance here.) At the time, Pete and Debbie were characters designed to show two expecting parents just how chaotic but bizarrely satisfying raising children and settling down can be. Fast forward a few years and these two are about ready to crack. And as Apatow ages, he too shows a few signs of cracking.

Pete and Debbie are both turning 40 within the same week. Her birthday is at the beginning of the week and is celebrated in quiet fashion with her immediate family, Pete and their two daughters, Sadie and Charlotte (played adorably by Apatow and Mann’s actual children, Maude and Iris Apatow). His birthday is to be feted in grand style at the end of the week with a multitude of party guests. The week that takes place in between these two events is one of the longest and most inconsistent trajectories I can imagine. What this couple has to go through in this week is a roller coaster of emotions and events that would surely send most people straight to divorce court. Pete and Debbie have a secret weapon though; every step they take is done so with hilarity and charm, and they are surrounded by an incredible supporting cast, including Albert Brooks, John Lithgow and Megan Fox.

Structural issues, and incessant Apple product placement aside, Apatow knows how to inject warmth and reality into comedy. This could be a direct influence of his borrowing from his own life to write THIS IS 40. While his strong understanding of human interaction and character infuses this work, making it feel like a more mature effort than previously produced films, his sympathy for his characters blinds him from creating a more cohesive final product. The moments are genuine and effective but just don’t connect at times. It is jarring to see this talented twosome fighting one moment, then having an amazing night together and then start fighting again the next day as if nothing ever happened. I get that this is how life works sometimes but this isn’t real life after all, and sometimes, Apatow loses sight of that ever so slightly.

THE FALL 2012 FILM PREVIEW (part two)

Yesterday, we stopped to admire the changing colours of September and October. Today, let's dive into the harsh rains and rapidly dropping temperatures of November and December ... filmwise, that is.

NOVEMBER

LIFE OF PI
I have made a promise to myself to read Yann Martel's brilliant novel for a second time before seeing Ang Lee's highly anticipated film version. I've seen the extended previews that everyone is apparently raving about and, while I still have full confidence that if anyone can pull off this near impossible adaptation, it would be Lee, I'm not yet convinced by the footage I've seen. So I want to go back and appreciate the beauty of Martel's brilliance, a story about struggle, strife and spirituality, one more time before letting Lee tell me his version of events. If Lee does succeed though, we could be hearing his name pretty often come awards season.

WRECK-IT RALPH
John C. Reilley voices the main character, Ralph himself, in this new animated feature from the good folks at Disney. Ralph has spent his whole life wrecking stuff and he can no longer deal with everyone hating on him for all the destruction he causes. Perplexed because he is just doing what he knows to do, Ralph decides to abandon the world he knows in search of a more accepting one. Did I mention Ralph is a video game character? The concept is amazingly geeky and the potential for hilarity is abundant. This is especially true knowing Sarah Silverman, Jane Lynch and Jack McBrayer voice the rest of the main characters.

LINCOLN
Daniel Day-Lewis's resemblance to the former President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, is a little unnerving when you first see it. That really only makes for incredible possibilities for where Day-Lewis's performance will go in Steven Spielberg's historical drama, LINCOLN, though. Spielberg chooses to focus on the final months of Lincoln's life, as adapted for the screen by playwright, Tony Kushner. After his uneven performance and reception to his two features last year (THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN and WAR HORSE), Spielberg will be looking to remind everyone who's boss with this one. Oh, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt co-stars.

SKYFALL
With the gigantic disappointment that was QUANTUM OF SOLANCE now years behind me, I am ready, no, I am desperate to see a James Bond film worthy to follow the brilliant CASINO ROYALE. The trailers for Sam Mendes's crack at bat look incredibly promising so my hope is bursting now. Daniel Craig returns, in great form it would appear as well, and looks far less depressed then he did last time. This is good because with Javier Bardem stepping into what is sure to be a deliciously evil Bond villain turn, Bond is going to need his wits about him at all times. Still, I'm sure Craig can find time for a quick dip at the beach too.

Also in November ... Robert Zemeckis leaves the world of motion capture animation and returns to live action with FLIGHT, starring Denzel Washington as an alcoholic hero pilot; Jean-Marc Vallee's award winning, festival success, CAFE DE FLORE, finally hits stateside ... And I'm very excited to see Edward and Bella again in TWILIGHT: BREAKING DAWN PART TWO. I'm mostly excited for this film because it is the last one in the series, until they reboot it in a few years, that is.

DECEMBER

DJANGO UNCHAINED
It doesn't matter to me what Quentin Tarantino is working on, I know that I will be there to see it the moment I can, because he is one of the few directors working today who never ceases to surprise me with new layers of depth to his ability with each film he makes. It doesn't matter to me if the film production is rumoured to be a difficult one at best or that the script was barely adhered to; I'm always certain Tarantino can pull through. It doesn't matter to me that the premise of the film has something to do with a fictionalized account of the slave industry told in spaghetti western style. No, it doesn't even matter to me that Jamie Foxx is starring in it. Tarantino can make a mess into a masterpiece and he's earned the benefit of all our collective doubt. Also, Leonardo DiCaprio stars in it.

THIS IS 40
Remember Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann in KNOCKED UP? Mann played Katherine Heigl's sister who was struggling with her identity as a mother and wife and Rudd played Mann's oblivious husband. Well, they're back in Judd Apatow's unofficial sequel to that film, THIS IS 40. Their characters both turn 40 in the same week and have a series of crises and epiphanies in the process. Apatow has struggled with personal growth and humour before (FUNNY PEOPLE) but I guess I'm feeling terribly charitable today, because I'm willing to let him take another stab too before I start to lose too much faith in his abilities. Besides, Melissa McCarthy and Albert Brookes co-star.

LES MISERABLES
I am not afraid to say that I do not at all believe Tom Hooper deserved his Oscar for directing THE KING'S SPEECH. He did a fantastic job with it but there were far better works in the category from far more experienced directors; it was not his turn. That said, I'm glad he did win because it gave him the chance to make what looks to be one heck of a masterful musical. LES MISERABLES has been tackled on screen before but never in its musical version and with Anne Hathaway and Hugh Jackman as the leads, two proven singers, we may be in for a definitive contribution to the genre itself. This should be interesting too; the songs were sung live on set and not pre-recorded so there is nowhere for anyone to hide. I'm talking to you, Russell Crowe and Amanda Seyfried! (They also star.)

Also in December ... Pater Jackson reveals the first of three more movies about hobbits and the like, THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY; Tom Cruise will make his biggest stretch as an actor yet, playing a man who is 6'5' in JACK REACHER (a reach, indeed); and parents everywhere can rejoice. This year there is no new chipmunk movie to sit through. No, instead you get to see the Pixar classic, MONSTERS INC in 3D!

There you have it folks. Be sure to come back mid-week for my TIFF 2012 preview, which basically covers every other movie coming out this fall not already covered here.

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

“Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story” is a ham-fisted parody of musical biography films that’s not nearly as funny as its makers believe it is. The script was co-written by the criminally overrated Judd Apatow and Jake Kasdan (son of director/writer Lawrence Kasdan). Kasdan also directed, if that is the word.

The Johnny Cash biography film “Walk the Line” (2005) being an obvious model here, “Walk Hard” gives us Dewey Cox (John C. Reilly) as a dim bulb of a man who enjoys great success as a country singer in the 1950s. The film follows his life as he changes musical styles and goes through an assortment of women, drugs and decadence before finding contentment as an old man, scarred by life but ultimately triumphant.

I guess the musical biography genre could be a ripe one for parody, but not under Apatow’s hand. Jokes are sledge hammered with all the subtlety of someone yelling in your face. A meeting with the Beatles is painfully unfunny and goes on forever, with the different Beatles continually calling each other by their names, as if we’re too stupid to get the jokes. (Apatow has an annoying habit of force feeding jokes two and three times until he’s sure we get it.)

Reilly is OK in the role I guess, but he’s never remotely likeable. Jenna Fishcher plays wife number two Darlene, a character who is an obvious riff on June Carter Cash, but that’s as far as the joke goes.

Tim Meadows is the film’s bright spot as a band member who leads Dewey into all kinds of temptations. When he’s on the screen the film achieves its best moments, but the rest of it is truly painful to sit through.

I saw this movie three days ago and can barely remember anything else about it.

Apatow is the hot thing in Hollywood right now thanks to the inexplicable success of “The 40-Year-Old Virgin”, “Knocked Up” and “Superbad” (which I enjoyed) and it appears he can do no wrong in the eyes of many. Until “Walk Hard” which bombed big time. Good. A few years ago the Farrelly Brothers were the hot commodity, but now their films barely cause a ripple. Maybe the same thing will happen to Apatow. His penchant for celebrating men who have the emotional maturity of 10-year-olds is already getting real stale.

Rating for “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story”: One-and-a-half stars.

Superbad

“Superbad” wasn’t nearly as bad as I feared it would be. In fact, I liked it quite a bit, despite reservations about the length and some contrivances involving two cops.

The film was produced by Judd Apatow, and my intense dislike of his “40-Year-Old Virgin” and “Knocked Up” left me convinced I would equally hate this film, but I went in with an open mind and was pleasantly surprised.

“Superbad” deals with three teenage boys played by Michael Sera, Jonah Hill and Christopher Mintz-Plasse who are seniors in high school who are determined to drink lots of beer and get laid before they go off to college. They offer to bring beer to a local party where they hope to accomplish their mission. Of course, being underage, this is easier said than done and I don’t think Gregory Peck, David Niven and Anthony Quinn attempting to blow up the Guns of Navarone experienced as many difficulties as these guys do trying to obtain alcohol for the party.

In the process they find out things about themselves and the women in their lives, which will hopefully serve them well in life.

The kids are very well cast and likeable while being immature, crude and vulgar as most teenage boys are. I think I found them more tolerable than Apatow’s previous child-men because they are teenagers and don’t know any better. They’re supposed to be stupid and immature. The adult characters in “40-Year-Old Virgin” are shockingly shallow, immature, annoying and people I wouldn’t want to know on a bet. (It must be stressed this is a minority opinion of these films).

I especially liked uber-nerd Mintz-Passe, who gets a fake ID with the immortal name of McLovin. He runs into two cops played by Apatow favorite Seth Rogen and Bill Hader and its here that the film goes off rails. These two act like two cops you wouldn’t find anywhere and in a film that strives to be a funny yet realistic depiction of teen life, they stick out like a sore thumb and make the film longer than it should be.

Rating for “Superbad”: Two and a half stars.

Not Knocked Out by "Knocked Up"

“Knocked Up” is loaded with characters I wouldn’t want to know in real life, if my friends became acquainted with these characters I would disown those friends, and if these characters moved in across the street I would move far, far away.

I really hated “Knocked Up” and the idea this movie is getting all kinds of critical acclaim is puzzling to me, to say the least.

I’m no fan of writer-director Judd Apatow. I found “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” equally painful to sit through, but “Knocked Up” is even worse. Both movies are way, way too long, and, to me, feel like first or second drafts rather than polished final drafts.

“Knocked Up” deals with the results of a drunken one night stand, when “E! Entertainment Television” rising star Allison (Katherine Heigl, very appealing) celebrates her promotion at the local watering hole where she meets big time slacker loser Ben (the insufferable Seth Rogan). Seven weeks later she learns she’s pregnant.

She decides to keep the baby and make Ben a part of her life through the pregnancy.

All well and good, but man, is this slackly written. In one scene, the two have an argument while driving and she throws him out of the car. The next time they meet at her niece’s birthday party, she tells him what a great guy he is.

What? We don’t see any scene showing this, or why she would have this change of heart. He’s still the big loser he was in the car. There are other scenes that left me bewildered, where characters are reacting in ways that don’t mesh with what occurred before.

Maybe it’s all explained in scenes that will up later in the DVD version. Not acceptable. I don’t pay money in the theater to see incomplete versions of a movie. Apatow needs to tighten up his writing, and please, learn to bring in a comedy in the 100-minute mark.

Ben does come through in the end, but it’s a long, protracted time before he does, and in the meantime we’re stuck with him and his ugly, annoying dopey stoner friends, who reside in a perpetual adolescence.

Allison has a sister (the shrill Leslie Mann, Apatow’s real life wife, and a call to arms against nepotism in the movies) married to a music promoter (Paul Rudd). They have two cute kids, but are always arguing. They represent a potential future for Allison and Ben. Is this what they can expect, a partnership full of scorn, insults and yelling?

Apatow includes not one but, if memory serves, two scenes of Allison and Ben talking about how they don’t want to wind up like her sister. We already figured this out, but Apatow doesn’t trust his audience to figure this out for ourselves. A long movie is made unnecessarily longer with these scenes.

Ben lives with a bunch of stoners who are suppose to be funny but aren’t. The f-bomb is dropped more frequently than in a Scorsese movie. It gets really old really fast.

Maybe I’m the wrong audience for this, I don’t know. Maybe it was the three horrendous trailers before the movie that put me in a bad mood. (A new Robin Williams movie, an Adam Sander comedy and the new Die Hard).

“Knocked Up” isn’t completely bad. There are some good laughs in it. I counted about four or five. That’s about one solid laugh every half hour. I think “Schindler’s List” had a higher laugh ratio.

Rating for “Knocked Up”: One star.