No, stop checking IMDB. The movie hasn't come out yet. And I haven't even seen it yet. I was able to procure a copy of the script. As a budding screenwriter, I like to read scripts. I love to see the little ways the screenwriting greats make their scripts so much better than mine. How I can read one of their scripts and immediately feel bad about my own. Conversely, of course, I can read a terrible script and instantly motivate myself not to give up. But, especially as a comedy writer, I read the comedy greats. Right now Judd Apatow is that man. In ten years from now, who knows. That torch may be passed to someone else. But, right now, if there's a comedy with his name attached to it... it's going to be a good movie. Some of the best comedies of the 2000s were because of that man. Knocked Up, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Superbad, The 40-Year Old Virgin... the list could go on. And even for those who weren't entirely fond of Funny People, there's no doubt that it didn't make you laugh. So, I may have jumped the gun a little bit by getting a hold of the This Is 40 screenplay, but damn it if Apatow hasn't done it again.
There are a lot of things about reading a screenplay that doesn't necessarily mean that I saw the movie. I mean, my imagination was in play the entire time. And while I had Paul Rudd's and Leslie Mann's voices down for each line, along with others, their acting choices weren't prevalent in my head. So, this review, until I actually see the movie for the first time, is solely based on the writing of the movie. There will still be little things in the finished film that wasn't on paper including, what I assume, will be at least half the movie's worth of improvisational lines. That being said, I thoroughly enjoyed reading every part of this script.
The film begins five years after the events of Knocked Up and what I will say right now, crushing the hopes and dreams of everyone waiting to see the movie, at least in the script, there is no sign of Seth Rogen, Katherine Hiegel (thank God) or their baby. That doesn't mean that there isn't a part for them in the film... in the script there is a large birthday party scene for Pete (Rudd) that they could very easily show up in, but I doubt it. Pete and Debbie (Mann) are about to turn forty. Their birthdays, coincidentally, are a week a part. And while Pete is more or less fine with starting the new chapter in his life, Debbie wants to remain thirty-eight for as long as she looks the part. She's worried about aging and wants to implement some new changes into their family. Some of the changes for the better such as taking away all electronics from her kids so that they can actually go outside and use their imaginations, a concept hard to grasp for anyone born in this era. But, some of the changes are for the worst. She wants to change who her and Pete are as a couple. They've become too familiar with one another that the love is seeming to disappear.
Throughout this mid-life crisis they face other struggles. Their oldest daughter just turned thirteen and has become less the sweet, innocent child she used to be and is starting to grow up and detached from her parents. Also, both Pete and Debbie's fathers aren't the best role models in the world that it inherently screwed both of them up. Pete's father (who will be brilliantly played by Albert Brooks) has a new wife and a gaggle of young triplets he's trying to deal with. Oh, and no job. So, for the last however many years, Pete has been secretly letting his father borrow money, none of which looks as though it will be paid back. This, then, lends to Pete's own financial struggles. His new record label is looking to make a profit off an aging musician who hasn't been big since the late 70s. For those of you who love older rock and roll will be pretty happy with who Apatow has chosen for this role. Others may not even know who the hell he is. But this financial struggle is leading Pete down a path that he may have to sell his house and close his label... and admit all of this to his wife (something I think he'd like to do less than be shot point-blank in the chest).
Debbie's father (played by John Lithgow) has only recently returned to her life... another attempt at her trying to sew her life together. He ran away from his family when she was eight and has since remarried and began a new family, one that hasn't been involved with Debbie hardly ever. Debbie's clothes shop is also losing money. Somehow, twelve thousand dollars has gone missing from the budget and she can only look to her two employees, Jodi (Charline Yi's character from Knocked Up) and Desi (Megan Fox) a new, young, attractive hire that only lends negatively to Debbie's own sense of self-image.
I won't get further into detail, but these characters are real people. They have everyday struggles that a lot of people deal with when getting later into life. While some of these may not be overtly connected to anyone in particular, they're still real life issues the audience (or in my case the reader) can relate to. And the movie is funny. Damn is it funny. When reading a script alone, the hardest task is to get the reader to laugh and let me tell you I was laughing consistently the entire time. I was able to tell that Apatow had a lot of fun writing the script. He was not only able to draw from his own life experiences to create perfect characters for his wife and daughters, but was also able to draw from his own sick sense of humor and create some rather hilarious side characters as well. Melissa McCarthy will portray the mother of a boy who taunts Pete and Debbie's oldest, and the brief scenes she's in will bring you to your knees.
But the best written character is Pete's dad Larry. He's a pathetic man with no moral qualms whatsoever about taking money from his child, even though Pete's struggling just as much, if not more so. But, what's evident with most Apatow movies is even though he's a despicable character, Apatow finds ways to humanize him so that even if you tried your hardest, it would be difficult to hate him. Albert Brooks is the perfect person to cast for the role and as I was reading it, I had a hard time envisioning anyone else for the part. Scenes between Pete and Larry or Larry and anyone else are the best parts of the film.
And for those who though that Pete and Debbie were irritating in Knocked Up, and you may be right, their characters are given much more here. There is love in between each fight and disagreement. They're not the perfect couple, but by the end it's evident that they are meant for each other. It's a great holiday movie, it's a great date movie, it's a great comedy. No one will leave the theater unfulfilled. And if the movie is only half as good as it's script, then it's shaping up to be the best comedy of the year. I personally can't wait to see it.
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