This Is 40 2012

Mary F. Pols, TIME Magazine: As the movie goes on, the laughs are fewer and farther between, and for the last 30 minutes, not only did I not laugh, I wanted it to end so I could get back to my own boring but less precious life. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: As funny as a hemorrhoid. Read more

Glenn Kenny, MSN Movies: 'This Is 40' isn't without flaws, it moves along nicely, and while it doesn't boast ... it does manage to be very consistently funny in a way that makes dramatic sense. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: There are a lot of loose ends and a few forced conclusions. But, then again, the acceptance of imperfection is Mr. Apatow's theme, so a degree of sloppiness is to be expected. That's life. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: There are moments of perception and sweetness, as per usual with Apatow movies. It's just too bad the movie's trajectory is formless and jokes built around petty marital resentments sometimes fall flat. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: It's not so much a movie as a loose collection of mostly funny conversations; and maybe, for the holidays, laughter is almost gift enough. Read more

Noel Murray, AV Club: It's 134 minutes long, and substitutes loosely related situations for plot. But a few broadly comic moments aside, This Is 40 also captures the rhythms and concerns of real life in ways that slicker Hollywood comedies don't. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: We aren't used to comedies that make us squirm like this. That doesn't mean they aren't worth our time. This Is 40 is. Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: It's the feel-bad comedy of the holiday season - and that's what makes it good. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: I hate to say it, but if Judd Apatow wants to be a seriously funny filmmaker, he may have to leave home. Read more

Amy Nicholson, Boxoffice Magazine: Apatow gives us a couple who know less about each other than I do about my middle school friends on Facebook Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: This is too much like a $35-million smart phone filled with kids' pictures. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: More like "This Is Whiny." Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: The performers are so likable that you stay with them even when, as is often the case, the material is hit-or-miss. Read more

Ricardo Baca, Denver Post: Apparently Apatow's penchant for if-it's-not-broke filmmaking isn't changing anytime soon. And it's a shame, because while This is 40 has plenty of laughs, it lacks decency and heart. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: "This Is 40" tends to be about the self-inflicted problems of spoiled upper-middle class white people. Which can be sort of funny, sure. Sort of. Read more

Cary Darling, Fort Worth Star-Telegram/DFW.com: There are few laugh-out-loud scenes. Yet maybe that's the point. That life isn't about the grand gesture but the little day-to-day details that keep us grounded and human. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: This Is 40 isn't always hilarious, but it's ticklishly honest and droll about all the things being a parent can do to a relationship. And why it's still worth it. Read more

Jordan Hoffman, Film.com: A pure, maximalist representation of a gifted artist simultaneously at the top of his game and looking to expand the form. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter: Even with all its ups and downs, there are more than enough bawdy laughs and truthful emotional moments to put this over as a mainstream audience pleaser during a holiday season short on good comedies. Read more

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: The film has as much to say about family dynamics as a couple's wavering love. Read more

Connie Ogle, Miami Herald: This is 40 is crude and dull, with a supporting cast that reminds you how utterly uninteresting the main characters are. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: "This Is 40" turns out to be an opportunity squandered. Read more

David Denby, New Yorker: Here is all the plenitude and warmth and the triviality and sadness of Los Angeles life. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Judd Apatow is not a disciplined artist. And that's a good thing. Read more

Scott Tobias, NPR: With This Is 40, Apatow turns his audience into fitfully chuckling therapists, dealing with a raft of problems that aren't entirely sorted out. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: There's a funny movie scratching at the edges of "This is 40." Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: No one could be as whiny, spoiled, tasteless, combative and reliant on annoying stand-up comedy riffs as the entire cast of this film, the most disappointing one of the year. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: This Is 40 is messy. But see it for its honest insights, its laughs, and for the terror Mann's character, as a mom defending her emotionally wounded daughter, rains down on a toothy school kid who's been sending unflattering texts. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Apatow does a good job of charting the uncertain waters of marriage - the tears, the arguments, the moments of clandestine sex interrupted by children, and the love and affection that are often masked by more immediate frustrations. Read more

Richard Roeper, Richard Roeper.com: At times "This is 40" is brutally funny and brutally honest. Just as often, it's painfully shrill and unpleasant. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Judd Apatow makes comedies that count. This Is 40 doesn't build to a catharsis. Yet Pete and Debbie's sparring yields some of Apatow's most personal observations yet. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: The real problem with "This Is 40" is its lack of truth, that Apatow wanted to express something about married life, and it eluded him. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: "This Is 40" is a bull's-eye zeitgeist comedy, a movie in which everyone acts like real people but funnier. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: After copping out in "Funny People," Apatow still hasn't set the table for a meaty drama, but making us laugh is a piece of cake. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: Mixing topicality and improv, Apatow rescued big-screen comedy from its lengthy wallow in the trough of dumb-and-dumber -- we have good reason to thank the guy. Until now. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: The movie frequently shifts from comic to dramatic and back again, true to Apatow's whiplash style but also true to life. Read more

Alonso Duralde, TheWrap: The bawdy wit and crisp dialogue that were the hallmark of Apatow's Knocked Up are still present, but the conflicts feel so cushy that one gets the impression that the filmmaker is losing touch with life as it is lived outside of Brentwood. Read more

Cath Clarke, Time Out: However irritating 'This Is 40' is at times, there's a warmth that wins you over, and an honesty about families. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: As [Apatow's] title implies, he could have taken a deeper plunge into the main task of middle age: revision. Read more

Toronto Star: Read more

Justin Chang, Variety: An acutely perceptive, emotionally generous laffer about the joys and frustrations of marriage and middle age. Read more

Alan Scherstuhl, Village Voice: Much like marriage, This Is 40 is somewhat formless, and it almost never hurries up. But life is improved by having the option. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: Overlong, unnecessarily sex-obsessed and downright nasty at times, "This Is 40" feels haphazard and unfinished, despite a few moments of laugh-out-loud humor. Read more