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Review || BY Alison Willmore || 12 17 2012 6:00 PM

REVIEW: Apatow Grows Up, Takes A Step Back With Messy 'This Is 40'

REVIEW: Apatow Grows Up, Takes A Step Back With Messy 'This Is 40'

This is 40 ends with a title card saying that it's "Based on characters created by Judd Apatow." While this is true — the film's about Debbie (Leslie Mann) and Pete (Paul Rudd), who were supporting figures in Apatow's 2007 hit Knocked Up — it also feels like it might be more accurate for it to declare "Based on Judd Apatow." It doesn't just star his wife Mann, it features their daughters Maude and Iris as her children, and it's not hard to read Rudd's character as an Apatow proxy who's struggling through the world of music instead of, these days, riding high in comedy.
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The 2-Minute Verdict || BY Jen Yamato || 04 27 2012 2:00 PM

Trailering Judd Apatow's This Is 40: Middle Age Comedy Crisis

Trailering Judd Apatow's This Is 40: Middle Age Comedy Crisis

Considering its relatively mundane subject matter -- Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann's Knocked Up characters, Pete and Debbie, go into mid-life crisis mode when age 40 approaches -- there's a deceptive amount of classic signatures in Judd Apatow's This is 40. Yes, I'm talking about dick jokes. And boners and nipples and vagina tree rings and whatever it is that Rudd is gazing at through a mirror without his pants on. In other words: Comedy gold! Right?
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