THIS IS 40 - hollywood 40 that is

This is 40 is Judd Apatow's new comedic film about aging in our contemporary electronic society. Some pathos, some laughs and some nonsense is propagated. 

Movies like this tend to make me feel inadequate. There are myriad moments that convey reality, albeit in a superficial way, that tend to induce empathy and likewise contempt. I'm scared to get older. It's unfair and frightening especially if you feel you have not succeed at any goal attempted, many times, with naive bliss. Nonetheless, I can relate to Paul Rudd this time round. He plays a goofy father that pursued his musical passion which is currently failing as a business. Leslie Mann plays a working house mom that, like all women in particular, wish not to be aging. It's incredibly easy to see why.

The cast is full of current comedic characters and a number from the previous "sort-of sequel", Knocked Up. Both Albert Brooks and John Lithgow fill their stereotypical antifather roles very well. This is life—not at 40—but always... rife with daddy issues. The odd thing about it is that these people, at 40, look amazing, unlike many at 40, which takes away from accepting the message as a serious comment. Melissa McCarthy makes this apparent at the end with a number of self reflexive jabs. To sum up, there are a few inside jokes that are common throughout and fun, a mass of gratuity and some social issues of note delivered by a host of familiar faces. Overall, I enjoyed the film and would view it again. It is rather overtly coarse in nature so the under 10's should probably be kept at bay.

Recommended Viewing: Knocked Up - Funny People - Wet Hot American Summer

              Bob Scale: The Critic: 6.9   -   The Fan: 7.7

             MetaCritic: 58

 Rotten Tomatoes: 50

                    IMDB: 6.3

THE CAMPAIGN - a vulgar election

Bah! Jay Roach has directed a number of decent comedies like Meet the Parents and the Austin Powers trilogy; he has also directed two very good TV dramas of late - Game Change and Recount. The Campaign, no doubt, is a raunchy, satirical ode to the current state of affairs in this country and a spoof off his last two political movies. Was it very good though? No, not really.

Roach has proven, at least to me, that he can dramatize current bizarre and shady political schemes in a way that contains as much veracity as possible without feeling too heavy handed - a bit like what JFK was for Oliver Stone. You may not agree with the artistic license taken at all points but somehow the direction conveys what most people feel about how the events probably took place. His representation of Sarah Palin in Game Change seemed fair and incredible as was his telling of the Gore/Bush voting booth craziness in Recount. 

The Campaign, however, was juvenile and hackneyed in the extreme. Corporations are bad. Capitalism is bad. Money is bad. There are some funny jokes, but most of them you feel like an idiot for laughing at, or worse, you begin to conjure a laugh and then you choke mid way through because whatever is said is not really even that amusing. A typical day out with Will Ferrell - gross out humor and peculiar sentences instead of wit and subtlety. Roach should stick to TV drama and stay away from puerile farce. Bah!

Recommended Viewing: The Great McGinty - Election - Wag The Dog

              Bob Scale: Objective: 6.0   -   Subjective: 6.5

             MetaCritic: 63

 Rotten Tomatoes: 66

                    IMDB: 6.2