This Is 40 Directed by: Judd Apatow Starring: Paul Rudd, Leslie Mann, Albert Brooks Rating: R Release Date: December 21, 2012
TRAILER SCORE: 8/10
Thoughts by TSR: After a first trailer that I did not enjoy, this one makes all the right adjustments. The opening moments alone – featuring Paul Rudd and Robert Smigel – are superior to anything in the first. It helps that this one starts to open up the world a bit more and show us some of the supporting characters. I’m not entirely sure why Megan Fox is gallivanting around in a bra – I know it’s a thing to make Leslie Mann’s character feel old, it just felt like one of the less successful ways of going about it – but getting to meet Albert Brooks and Chris O’Dowd makes up for it. O’Dowd is funny in his brief moment, as expected, and Brooks does a lot with a little. I especially love the way he seems to be considering how to respond before settling on “Your mother wanted you aborted.”
Bringing the world of the film into focus makes it much more appealing, but one thing that hasn’t changed is the chemistry between Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann. Wait, I take that back. It’s even stronger here. The, um, sweet scene where Mann says she would enjoy their last few months together while killing him (by poisoning his cupcakes, of course) is reminiscent of a similar thing in Take This Waltz, but these two make it feel fresh. The last trailer ended on a high note with Paul Rudd naked on a bed. This one manages to top that and then some by having Rudd “lose” a starfish in his underwear. This is better. This is funny. This is sweet. This Is 40.