The film begins with Pete (Paul Rudd) and Debbie (Leslie Mann) having sex in the shower. Pete reveals that he took a Viagra pill given to him by his friend Barry (Rob Smigel); this enrages Debbie and they stop. Debbie is angered that she is turning 40.
In the five years since the previous film ‘Knocked Up’, Debbie owns a boutique store with Desi (Megan Fox) and Jodi (Charlyne Yi) working for her. Pete owns his own record label, with his friends Ronnie (Chris O’Dowd) and Cat (Lena Dunham) working with him. Pete’s business is struggling financially as he promotes the reunion of Graham Parker & The Rumour.
The couple also are having to deal with their daughters; Sadie, now age 13, and eight-year-old Charlotte. For Debbie’s birthday, the couple goes on a romantic weekend to a resort. There they get high from eating marijuana cookies, and fantasize out loud about ways they would kill each other.
After speaking with her friends Jason (Jason Segel) and Barb (Annie Mumolo), Debbie decides to improve her marriage and family through exercise, and becoming more connected with her parents. Debbie tells Pete that he needs to stop lending his deadbeat father, Larry (Albert Brooks), money, because it is hurting them financially. Pete goes to visit him, but is unsuccessful at giving him the news, and still agrees to give him money.
Meanwhile, Debbie visits her gynecologist (Tim Bagley), and discovers that she is pregnant. She decides not to tell Pete about this. Later, Debbie yells at a student, named Joseph (Ryan Lee), who has been bullying and taunting Sadie. She yells at him so much that Joseph’s mother, Catherine (Melissa McCarthy), gets into an argument with Pete. They later have a meeting with the principal, but the couple denies everything that happened. The couple is overjoyed when Catherine starts using the same language they used previously and the principal dismisses them.
One night between the school taunting sequences, Debbie takes Desi out dancing at a club, planning to confront her with her suspicions that she has been stealing money from the store. Debbie and Desi meet several players from the Philadelphia Flyers hockey team at the pub. Debbie awkwardly finds out that one of the players wants to hang out with her and possibly sleep with her. She is proud that he wants to have sex with her, but admits that she is married, has two kids, and is pregnant.
Afterwards, Debbie drops Desi off at her house and confronts her about the missing money. Desi reveals she is able to afford nice things because she is also an escort. Later, Debbie meets up with Jodi, who confesses that she was the one who stole the money to buy Oxycontin. Debbie fires her and leaves. Meanwhile, Pete and Debbie are having to deal with Sadie and Charlotte fighting all the time, which results in arguments between the family.
This Is 40 is a 2012 American comedy film written, co-produced and directed by Judd Apatow and starring Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann. It is a “sort of” sequel to Knocked Up, which starred Seth Rogen and Katherine Heigl. Filming was conducted in mid-2011, and the film was released in North America on December 21, 2012. The film received mixed reviews from critics, who praised its cast, acting (particularly Mann, Rudd and Fox) and the film’s comedic moments and perceptive scenes, but criticized the film’s overlong running time and occasional aimlessness.
This Is 40 (2012)
Directed by: Judd Apatow
Starring: Paul Rudd, Leslie Mann, John Lithgow, Megan Fox, Melissa McCarthy, Jason Segel, Chris O’Dowd, Albert Brooks, Annie Mumolo, Graham Parker, Mackenzie Aladjem, Megan Grano
Screenplay by: Judd Apatow
Production Design by: Jefferson Sage
Cinematography by: Phedon Papamichael
Film Editing by: David L. Bertman, Jay Deuby, Brent White
Costume Design by: Leesa Evans
Set Decoration by: Leslie Pope
Art Direction by: Andrew Max Cahn
Music by: Jon Brion
MPAA Rating: R for sexual content, crude humor, pervasive language and some drug material.
Distributed by: Universal Pictures
Release Date: December 21, 2012
Hits: 92
