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THIS IS 40Movie Reviews
Comedy about the anxieties of a married couple facing the realities of middle age as they both approach their 40th birthdays. Cast:Megan Fox, Paul Rudd, Jason Segel, Leslie Mann, Melissa McCarthy, Albert Brooks, Chris O'Dowd, John Lithgow, Lena Dunham, Maude Apatow, Wyatt Russell, Iris Apatow, Ryan Lee, Charlyne Yi, Suzy NakamuraDirector:Judd ApatowRelease Date:December 21, 2012DVD Release:March 22, 2013From:UniversalRating:RLength:2 hr. 13 min.
This is 40 played to good not great reviews. • Noel Murray wrote for the AV Club, "The couple at the center of this film is like the movie itself: funny and thorny, trying to be exceptional, even if that means making dumb, understandably human mistakes." • And Richard Roeper wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times, "...it all feels very natural and occasionally quite funny." More Reviews Below...
This is 40 Positive Reviews (48 Reviews, reviews below)
Alynda Wheat, People: MODERATE(cg) "It's not that the film isn't funny -- it has moments of true hilarity. But the gems surface in streams of whiny, toxic arguments between privileged parents..."(See all of Alynda Wheat's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 160 words, 12/13/12
Mary Corliss, Time: MODERATE "Subplots go nowhere in particular.... for the last 30 minutes, not only did I not laugh, I wanted it to end so I could get back to my own boring but less precious life."(See all of Mary Corliss's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,127 words, 12/19/12
Christy Lemire, Associated Press: VERY GOOD(cg) "Apatow seems more interested in finding tough nuggets of truth than easy laughs.... It's the feel-bad comedy of the holiday season -- and that's what makes it good."(See all of Christy Lemire's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 645 words, 12/20/12
Mara Reinstein, Us Weekly: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...a slew of smart, relatable gripes about Viagra, Chico's and Lady Gaga. Alas, the pair's endless petty bickering -- don't eat that cupcake, Pete! -- is a killjoy."(See all of Mara Reinstein's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 128 words, 12/20/12
Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...winningly nimble... isn't always hilarious, but it's ticklishly honest and droll about all the things being a parent can do to a relationship. And why it's still worth it."(See all of Owen Gleiberman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 465 words, 12/14/12
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: VERY GOOD(cg) "...high-spirited, hilarious and surprisingly prickly... Apatow probes deeper into the emotional challenges you don't find codified on a marriage license."(See all of Peter Travers's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 429 words, 12/21/12
Claudia Puig, USA Today: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "There are moments of perception and sweetness.... It's too bad the movie's trajectory is formless and jokes built around petty marital resentments sometimes fall flat."(See all of Claudia Puig's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 479 words, 12/21/12
Glenn Kenny, MSN Movies: VERY GOOD(cg) "...won me over pretty handily.... it reminded me that, especially in the self-absorption of the lives that many of us lead, that a little kindness can go a long way..."(See all of Glenn Kenny's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 726 words, 12/17/12
James Berardinelli, Reel Views: VERY GOOD(cg) "...although the film is too long and at times over-the-top, its essence is grounded in everyday moments and emotions that will have viewers nodding with understanding..."(See all of James Berardinelli's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 873 words, 12/20/12
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NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES/CHICAGO/TORONTO (12 Reviews)
A.O. Scott, New York Times: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "...good enough.... The movie snuggles up next to you, breathes in your face, dribbles crumbs on your shirt and laughs at its own jokes.... That's life."(See all of A.O. Scott's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,083 words, 12/21/12
Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "There's a funny movie scratching at the edges.... But this being an Apatow film, it's duty-bound to grossness and overindulgence."(See all of Joe Neumaier's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 464 words, 12/21/12
Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: VERY GOOD "...the filmmaker has always had an eye for telling details... I'm just happy to see one of this generation's most influential comic minds back on track -- the laugh track."(See all of Betsy Sharkey's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 793 words, 12/21/12
Kyle Smith, New York Post: WEAK(cg) "...no one could be as whiny, spoiled, tasteless, combative and reliant on annoying stand-up comedy riffs as the entire cast of this film... disappointing..."(See all of Kyle Smith's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 724 words, 12/21/12
Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "More like 'This is Whiny'... It's an attempt at a more bruising brand of comedy than Apatow has tried in the past.... much of the script feels oddly dishonest and dodgy..."(See all of Michael Phillips's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 488 words, 12/21/12
Rafer Guzman, New York Newsday: MODERATE(cg) "This isn't 'Knocked Up 2,' but more like a reworking of 'Parenthood'.... There used to be something special about Pete and Debbie. Now they feel disappointingly average."(See all of Rafer Guzman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 295 words, 12/21/12
Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...it all feels very natural and occasionally quite funny.... At times the film is brutally funny and brutally honest. Just as often, it's painfully shrill and unpleasant."(See all of Richard Roeper's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 648 words, 12/21/12
Alan Scherstuhl, Village Voice/LA Weekly: GOOD "...messy, perceptive... the resentments are sharply observed, and the pickling is honest, more familiar from life than from movies, and almost always droll..."(See all of Alan Scherstuhl's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 844 words, 12/19/12
Peter Howell, Toronto Star: VERY GOOD(cg) "...equitably looks at middle age from both sides of the gender divide, but whereas Rudd is reliably good, Mann is really good..."(See all of Peter Howell's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 734 words, 12/21/12
Rick Groen, Toronto Globe & Mail: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "Can a happy family in a big house still be a happy family in a slightly less big house?... intermittently funny and consistently precious..."(See all of Rick Groen's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 679 words, 12/21/12
Norman Wilner, Toronto Now: EXCELLENT(cg) "Rudd gives a terrific performance as the increasingly put-upon hero, showing different facets of himself to his wife, his moochy father, his co-workers..."(See all of Norman Wilner's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 417 words, 12/20/12
KEY CITIES (13 Reviews)
Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: MODERATE(cg) "Overlong, unnecessarily sex-obsessed and downright nasty at times... feels haphazard and unfinished, despite a few moments of laugh-out-loud humor."(See all of Michael O'Sullivan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 622 words, 12/21/12
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star-Tribune: VERY GOOD(cg) "...a bull's-eye zeitgeist comedy, a movie in which everyone acts like real people but funnier... Apatow delivers common sense in funny, insightful packages."(See all of Colin Covert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 513 words, 12/21/12
Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: EXCELLENT(cg) "...really funny.... Some of it is grounded in absurdity, some in real life; Rudd and Mann excel at finding the funny in both places."(See all of Bill Goodykoontz's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 662 words, 12/21/12
Ty Burr, Boston Globe: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...has some real laughs.... At an overlong 134 minutes, though, the movie increasingly seems like a parade of White People's Problems."(See all of Ty Burr's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 782 words, 12/21/12
Stephen Whitty, New Jersey Star-Ledger: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...has real performances from a cast of constant collaborators, wildly raunchy dialogue that has you red-faced with either embarrassment or laughter... a slice of life."(See all of Stephen Whitty's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 649 words, 12/21/12
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: POOR(cg) "...this is hell, full of awful people whom the filmmaker seems to regard as charming. The one saving grace is Albert Brooks as Rudd's sponging father."(See all of Mick LaSalle's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 183 words, 12/21/12
Moira Macdonald, Seattle Times: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...witty bits pepper the screenplay.... The problem is what happens in between... it rambles along for lengthy periods without much happening..."(See all of Moira Macdonald's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 321 words, 12/21/12
Marc Mohan, Portland Oregonian: GOOD(cg) "...consists of scene after scene in which two or more likable, skilled comic actors riff on some (generally taboo) topic... There are laughs to be found..."(See all of Marc Mohan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 450 words, 12/21/12
Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: VERY GOOD(cg) "...the few quibbles that arise are easily forgotten... Apatow still hasn't set the table for a meaty drama, but making us laugh is a piece of cake."(See all of Joe Williams's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 455 words, 12/21/12
Sean Daly, Tampa Bay Times: VERY GOOD(cg) "...long, babbling but bawdily quotable... Apatow's most mature, restrained outing yet... a 134-minute home movie, a love letter to his family..."(See all of Sean Daly's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 721 words, 12/20/12
Tom Long, Detroit News: MODERATE(cg) "...tends to be about the self-inflicted problems of spoiled upper-middle class white people. Which can be sort of funny, sure. Sort of."(See all of Tom Long's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 298 words, 12/21/12
Alan Scherstuhl, Village Voice/LA Weekly: GOOD "...messy, perceptive... the resentments are sharply observed, and the pickling is honest, more familiar from life than from movies, and almost always droll..."(See all of Alan Scherstuhl's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 844 words, 12/19/12
Sean O'Connell, Cinema Blend: WEAK(cg) "...a passable comedy plagued by the usual Apatow potholes.... You may laugh, but you probably won't relate to much of what's on screen while you are doing it."(See all of Sean O'Connell's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 573 words, 12/20/12
Brett Michel, Boston Phoenix: WEAK(cg) "The couple might have to sell their gigantic home because Debbie's boutique clothing store is missing $12,000 and Pete has loaned his struggling father $80,000. Boo. Hoo."(See all of Brett Michel's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 126 words, 12/20/12
Noel Murray, AV Club: EXCELLENT(cg) "The couple at the center of this film is like the movie itself: funny and thorny, trying to be exceptional, even if that means making dumb, understandably human mistakes."(See all of Noel Murray's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 821 words, 12/20/12
Michael Landweber, Pop Matters: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...might have worked better if Apatow had found a consistent tone... At times, it feels like multiple takes on the same concept were shot and then accidentally all included..."(See all of Michael Landweber's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 674 words, 12/21/12
Alison Willmore, Movieline: GOOD(cg) "...benefits from the closeness of this material to its creator as much as it suffers for it... feels like a recycled Erma Bombeck column with some added iPad etiquette..."(See all of Alison Willmore's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 932 words, 12/17/12
Jesse Cataldo, Slant: WEAK(cg) "Apatow's comedies haven't achieved a symbiotic balance between humor and drama; they're funny at the expense of their gravity... serious at the expense of laughs."(See all of Jesse Cataldo's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 598 words, 12/16/12
Norman Wilner, Toronto Now: EXCELLENT(cg) "Rudd gives a terrific performance as the increasingly put-upon hero, showing different facets of himself to his wife, his moochy father, his co-workers..."(See all of Norman Wilner's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 417 words, 12/20/12
Curt Holman, Atlanta Creative Loafing: WEAK(cg) "Unfortunately, the film falls into a repetitive cycle of confrontation and reconciliation that the snappy patter can't redeem."(See all of Curt Holman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 384 words, 12/19/12
HIGHBROW PRESS (6 Reviews)
A.O. Scott, New York Times: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "...good enough.... The movie snuggles up next to you, breathes in your face, dribbles crumbs on your shirt and laughs at its own jokes.... That's life."(See all of A.O. Scott's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,083 words, 12/21/12
David Denby, New Yorker: EXCELLENT "...very funny.... We're back in Apatow country... Here is all the plenitude and warmth and the triviality and sadness of Los Angeles life."(See all of David Denby's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 483 words, 12/17/12
Scott Tobias, NPR: GOOD "...a vital, generous blob of a film... Apatow turns his audience into fitfully chuckling therapists, dealing with a raft of problems that aren't entirely sorted out."(See all of Scott Tobias's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 762 words, 12/20/12
Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: VERY GOOD "...the filmmaker has always had an eye for telling details... I'm just happy to see one of this generation's most influential comic minds back on track -- the laugh track."(See all of Betsy Sharkey's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 793 words, 12/21/12
Dana Stevens, Slate: WEAK "At its best, it feels like a strung-together series of ideas for a movie... At its worst, it feels like being condemned to watch two hours of someone else's home movies..."(See all of Dana Stevens's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 893 words, 12/14/12
Jason Bailey, Salon: EXCELLENT "...marks not only a continuation of the filmmaker's creative evolution, but a culmination of what has been most compelling in comedy over the past couple of years."(See all of Jason Bailey's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,437 words, 12/28/12
MOVIE INDUSTRY (5 Reviews)
Justin Chang, Daily Variety: EXCELLENT "...acutely perceptive, emotionally generous.... anchored by splendid turns from Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann... a bracingly ribald, foul-mouthed affair..."(See all of Justin Chang's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 939 words, 11/30/12
Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter: MODERATE "...a two-hour wobble between the honestly funny and the downright unbearable... there is more that's hard to take in the first half and more hilarity in the second..."(See all of Todd McCarthy's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,067 words, 11/30/12
Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: VERY GOOD "...the filmmaker has always had an eye for telling details... I'm just happy to see one of this generation's most influential comic minds back on track -- the laugh track."(See all of Betsy Sharkey's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 793 words, 12/21/12
Emanuel Levy, Cinema 24/7: MODERATE(cg) "...aims to offer an unfiltered, comedic look inside the life of an ordinary American marriage, but what emerges is an irritatingly repetitious portrait of parenthood."(See all of Emanuel Levy's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 295 words, 12/17/12
A.O. Scott, New York Times: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "...good enough.... The movie snuggles up next to you, breathes in your face, dribbles crumbs on your shirt and laughs at its own jokes.... That's life."(See all of A.O. Scott's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,083 words, 12/21/12
18.3 Percentage Points Average Difference Between Reviews (Norm is 18.4pp; <18.4pp = More Consistent; >18.4pp = More Mixed)
This is 40's reviews are separated by an average 18.3 percentage points. The norm for this measure is 18.4 percentage points. Less than 18.4 indicates more consistent reviews; greater than 18.4 indicates more mixed reviews. In the chart below, each dot represents a review, with the dots at the top more positive than the dots at the bottom. From left to right, the dots represent reviews in big, bigger and biggest publications. Roll over each dot for more detail.
This is 40 (48 reviews) Roll over dots for each review
Coverage:This is 40's reviews cover 92.4% of potential readers (average is 67.9%). Volume:The film's reviews total 29,823 words involume (average is 20,172 words). Length:The film's reviews average 621 words in length (the norm is 517 words).
This is 40 Coverage, Volume & Length (48 Reviews, reviews below)
Reviews Broke 63.5 Hours Before Release (Norm is 1.2 Release)
This is 40's reviews on average broke 63.5 hours before opening. Norm for this measure is 1.2 hours before. The chart below shows reviews on opening day and the days before and after opening; the left side is earlier and the right side is later. The red bars extending above the horizontal mid-line represent more positive reviews, and the red bars extending below represent more negative reviews. The white space/red bar in the middle is This is 40's opening day. Click on any bar for a list of the reviews for that day.
This is 40 (48 reviews, click on bars for reviews)
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