Review of This Is 40

You may recall a major hit a few years ago entitled KNOCKED UP by Director Judd Apatow. You may also remember the "other" couple in that film, the secondary characters, the characters that the main characters "played against" for dramatic exposition. Well, Director Apatow, for reasons that are less than clear, decided to not only do a follow=up film to that hit, but to base said film on the second couple, the couple most viewers who saw the first film have likely forgotten. Wait, it gets better. The actress who played the wife in the original film (ie, in the "second" couple) is Leslie Mann, who, by coincidence, is Apatow's wife in real life. And, ergo, the star of the current film. See? And -- if you like coincidences, you will love this -- Mann herself turned 40 years old the same year that this film was made. So -- let's sum up for those of you having trouble with all this, which should be most of you -- Apatow took the secondary characters from a hit film and made a brand new film about middle aged married people, casting his very own wife. In other words, he decided to do a film about his own marriage. The reviewers have so far been less than kind about his film -- one major reviewer suggesting that all the characters are so horrible he wanted to sell the bunch of them to white slavers -- but one suspects Apatow could care less. This is the film he wanted to make and he made it. Deal with it. Comments... * if you are married, you will "get" a lot of the set pieces in the film. If you are not, you won't. In fact if you are not married, this film may possibly damage you for actual marriage, and should be avoided simply on the grounds of public policy. * Leslie Mann is one of the most photogenic actresses in Hollywood and under different circumstances probably deserved an entire film of her own, just like this one. In fact, she steals entire scenes from Meghan Fox. However, all things considered, these are NOT those circumstances... * overall a forgettable film. Unless you actually are Judd Apatow