{"id":5856,"date":"2013-04-24T10:39:00","date_gmt":"2013-04-24T14:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/?p=5856"},"modified":"2022-09-11T10:48:08","modified_gmt":"2022-09-11T14:48:08","slug":"this-is-40-was-made-by-comedians-for-comedians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/this-is-40-was-made-by-comedians-for-comedians\/","title":{"rendered":"This is 40 was made by comedians, for comedians"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Because you demanded it: a sequel to Knocked Up<\/em>! Oh wait, you didn’t? Neither did I.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even as an admitted “dramedy”, Judd Apatow’s This is 40<\/em> is a major bummer. Laugh and cry as you watch a couple deal with the same problems ordinary people can relate to: what to do with their rewarding jobs, giant house, and Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann’s uncommonly good looks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is 40<\/em> falls squarely into a certain subgenre of movie comedy made by comedians for comedians, forgetting that ordinary civilians might be in the audience. You could call it the “Yes, and\u2026” genre, after the standup tenet of never cockblocking to your improv partner’s volley with a “No, actually\u2026”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You know how many comedies append outtakes to the end credits (or DVD bonus features), as a kind of easter egg? One key giveaway of the “Yes, and\u2026” comedy is that these discourses are actually left in the movie. This is 40<\/em> then serves up even more after the end, in the form of one extended improvisation in which Melissa McCarthy cracks up everyone else on the set, while remaining strictly in character.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those of us who don’t take evening improv classes at the Upright Citizens Brigade will find this scene something of an indulgence, especially after 134 minutes of loosely strung-together improv bits in the supposedly narrative portion of the film.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Because you demanded it: a sequel to Knocked Up! Oh wait, you didn’t? Neither did I. Even as an admitted “dramedy”, Judd Apatow’s This is 40 is a major bummer. Laugh and cry as you watch a couple deal with the same problems ordinary people can relate to: what to do with their rewarding jobs, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5857,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,2],"tags":[1719,77,1116,1995,1994,1119],"class_list":["post-5856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2-stars","category-movies","tag-1719","tag-comedy","tag-judd-apatow","tag-leslie-mann","tag-melissa-mccarthy","tag-paul-rudd"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/this-is-40.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa9lhB-1ws","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":143,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/the-40-year-old-virgin\/","url_meta":{"origin":5856,"position":0},"title":"The 40 Year Old Virgin","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"February 14, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Like Something About Mary and American Pie, sometimes the most well-observed character-based comedies come in disguise as crass gross-outs. They also have a tendency towards saccharine sweetness, but there are worse crimes.","rel":"","context":"In "4 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"4 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/4-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The 40 Year Old Virgin","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/02\/40-year-old-virgin.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/02\/40-year-old-virgin.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/02\/40-year-old-virgin.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/02\/40-year-old-virgin.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/02\/40-year-old-virgin.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5143,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/monty-python-live-mostly-2014-movie-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":5856,"position":1},"title":"Monty Python throws a farewell party for themselves in “Live (Mostly): One Down, Four to Go”","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"October 13, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Like many misfit American kids of my generation, my brain was permanently rewired when I discovered the BBC series Monty Python's Flying Circus on PBS in the 1980s. Monty Python, Doctor Who, and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy formed a triumvirate of British pop culture that gave dorky anglophiles\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"2 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/2-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Monty Python Live (Mostly): One Down, Four to Go","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/monty-python-live-mostly.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/monty-python-live-mostly.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/monty-python-live-mostly.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/monty-python-live-mostly.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/monty-python-live-mostly.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":846,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/walk-hard\/","url_meta":{"origin":5856,"position":2},"title":"Jake Kasdan spoofs the musical biopic in Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"May 16, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"This blogger finds most so-called biopics wanting. The two- to three-hour feature film format is more akin to an essay or short story than a book, and as such is ill-equipped to sum up the entire life of a human being in more than a string of highlights. Yet studios\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"2 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/2-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/walk-hard-dewey-cox-45.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/walk-hard-dewey-cox-45.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/walk-hard-dewey-cox-45.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/walk-hard-dewey-cox-45.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/walk-hard-dewey-cox-45.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5772,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/double-jeopardy-is-one-rewrite-away-from-working\/","url_meta":{"origin":5856,"position":3},"title":"Double Jeopardy was one rewrite away from being a thrilling thriller","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"August 31, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Not to imply that screenwriting and revision are easy, but Bruce Beresford's Double Jeopardy is only one rewrite away from being a decent action thriller. The elevator pitch is obvious enough (The Fugitive... but with a lady!), but it truly does have a killer hook: jilted woman \u2013 framed for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"2 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/2-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Tommy Lee Jones and Ashley Judd in Double Jeopardy","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/double-jeopardy.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/double-jeopardy.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/double-jeopardy.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/double-jeopardy.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/double-jeopardy.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":627,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/the-10-most-disappointing-movies-i-saw-in-2007\/","url_meta":{"origin":5856,"position":4},"title":"The 10 Most Disappointing Movies I Saw in 2007","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"February 14, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"As I was compiling the best and worst movies I saw in 2007, I found I still had enough for a special category: movies that absolutely don't deserve to be called bad, even when it's just me here talking to myself on my stupid blog. 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With a tagline that implies The Sixth Sense as a romantic comedy, its tone and subject matter are roughly comparable to As Good As It Gets: the thawing of a misanthrope with some good qualities. It mostly earns\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "3 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"3 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/3-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Tea Leoni, Ricky Gervais, and Greg Kinnear in Ghost Town","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/ghost-town.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/ghost-town.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/ghost-town.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/ghost-town.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/ghost-town.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5856"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5856\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5858,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5856\/revisions\/5858"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}