thoughts on This is 40

I daresay that this was a great movie, everyone. I usually find Judd Apatow pretty hit-or-miss-- I thought The 40-Year-Old Virgin was very funny and sweet; thought Knocked Up had good intentions and some funny parts but wasn't that great as a whole; and hated Funny People-- but I really, really liked this one. I've heard some comments that it was about thirty minutes too long, and I can see that; there are some scenes that go on a little too long, and others that were funny but didn't really advance the plot and therefore probably could have been cut. However, I seriously enjoyed every minute. I'm not kidding. It just felt so real.

Here's what I've found in my own life, and I discussed this a little bit during my blog on the most recent episode of Nashville: you think that relationship drama (both with friendships and romantic relationships) is going to disappear when you get older, but if anything, it just gets more intense. You have more history with people. It's harder to just walk away from relationships. People continue not to always say what they mean, and feelings get hurt. Your own personal problems start to involve financial issues, career dissatisfaction, and health problems, none of which are easily solved. However, there is also a certain level of getting real as you get older-- of determining what's really important, who you really want around, who you're stuck with for better or worse, what dreams you need to hold onto and what you need to let go of. You get less dramatic and stop thinking that one bad decision has ruined, or is going to ruin, your whole life. You also start to see the world as a lot less black and white; when you're younger, you think that you would never do this or put up with that, but then, yeah, you do, and it's not the end of the world. And it's all messy, and it's emotional, and the only way to avoid it is to never take any chances or get close to anyone, and it's all here in this movie. Pete cries alone in his car after a concert his record label has put a lot of money into doesn't go well. Sadie, their older daughter, screams at them for taking away her computer, phone, etc.; she's mad at them for reading her text messages and Facebook pages, but she's also upset that they took all of this away when she was just TWO EPISODES away from finishing Lost. Pete and Debbie have a conversation about how they would murder each other, and another one in which they wonder if they would even still be together if she hadn't gotten pregnant fourteen years ago, and another one in which they tell each other they're each other's favorite people. Pete hides their financial troubles from Debbie, which seems really, really awful of him, but then he points out to her that he feels like he has to lie and hide things because she overreacts to every little thing, and it's true: this is a grown-ass man who can't even eat a cupcake without getting yelled at. Neither of them are perfect, and sometimes you wonder if they should even be together, but they're both committed to the marriage, which means they see each other at their very best and very worst, and WE see them at their very best and very worst, and it's pretty great.

Here is my single favorite part of the movie: Pete and Debbie find that some kid has been posting rude things to Sadie's Facebook page, that he made a Hot-or-Not list and put her on the "Not" list. Debbie confronts this kid and absolutely goes off on him, like swears and threatens him and makes him cry. Then his mom (Melissa McCarthy) confronts Pete, and he goes off on HER, and at one point I think he threatens to hit her son with his car. The three parents eventually wind up in the principal's office, and this kid's mom tells the principal everything the two of them have said, and the two of them just FLAT-OUT LIE THROUGH THEIR TEETH AND DENY EVERYTHING. I don't know why I found that so awesome, but I did. Also, Melissa McCarthy just keeps saying worse and worse things (she tells the principal something like, "I'm glad your husband died. He probably killed himself because he hates you"), and they include more of her rant during the credits, and it is hilarious.

I really, really liked this, everyone. Would definitely recommend.