Pete and Debbie are both turning 40, though Debbie is in denial about it. They both run businesses which are going through severe financial difficulties, and Pete keeps lending money which he can't afford to his father. Their older daughter is hormonal. Debbie is discontented for reasons which don't appear entirely clear. For two and a quarter hours.
Judd Apatow writes and directs his wife and children in, what one can only assume, is a fictionalised film about his wife and children, with Paul Rudd standing in for him. Billed as a comedy, which it isn't, this is a soapy drama with some occasional humour.
I can't say I didn't enjoy it because, in an odd way, I did. But I can say that it left me feeling dissatisfied, like a meal which had some interesting tastes, but which I didn't actually like that much. The problem, I think, lies in the central characters, where any appeal lies with the actors playing them: as written, they are fairly unsympathetic. The central problem in their lives is the financial one and, by the end of the film, that remains completely unresolved (apart from the fact that they are, at least, talking about it). Otherwise it seemed to me that absolutely nothing had changed between them - yes, they love each other, but they were still going down the tubes financially and she was still going to be yelling at him every 15 minutes and he was still going to be hiding in their lock-free toilet, and perhaps that is at the centre of my unease - if only they would get to grips with the only real problem they have (which they resolutely don't) these people wouldn't actually have anything to complain about.
That's not all which displeased me. As is usual with Apatow's films, there is a monumental amount of bad language (we are, at least, spared it from the younger daughter). And, after a nasty row, the thing which brings them back together is lying about the unpleasant way they have treated another person. Lovely. Plus, 134 minutes is somewhat excessive for a film about pointless arguments.
What positive things can I say? The two girls - Apatow's and Leslie Mann's real-life daughters - show promise. Megan Fox swans around in underwear and a bikini and a face which has gone very odd, courtesy (one assumes) of unnecessary plastic surgery. John Lithgow's part is interesting and surprisingly sympathetic. And there is a terrific outtake during the end credits featuring Melissa McCarthy.
The much-hyped connection with Knocked Up is utterly irrelevant.
Judd Apatow writes and directs his wife and children in, what one can only assume, is a fictionalised film about his wife and children, with Paul Rudd standing in for him. Billed as a comedy, which it isn't, this is a soapy drama with some occasional humour.
I can't say I didn't enjoy it because, in an odd way, I did. But I can say that it left me feeling dissatisfied, like a meal which had some interesting tastes, but which I didn't actually like that much. The problem, I think, lies in the central characters, where any appeal lies with the actors playing them: as written, they are fairly unsympathetic. The central problem in their lives is the financial one and, by the end of the film, that remains completely unresolved (apart from the fact that they are, at least, talking about it). Otherwise it seemed to me that absolutely nothing had changed between them - yes, they love each other, but they were still going down the tubes financially and she was still going to be yelling at him every 15 minutes and he was still going to be hiding in their lock-free toilet, and perhaps that is at the centre of my unease - if only they would get to grips with the only real problem they have (which they resolutely don't) these people wouldn't actually have anything to complain about.
That's not all which displeased me. As is usual with Apatow's films, there is a monumental amount of bad language (we are, at least, spared it from the younger daughter). And, after a nasty row, the thing which brings them back together is lying about the unpleasant way they have treated another person. Lovely. Plus, 134 minutes is somewhat excessive for a film about pointless arguments.
What positive things can I say? The two girls - Apatow's and Leslie Mann's real-life daughters - show promise. Megan Fox swans around in underwear and a bikini and a face which has gone very odd, courtesy (one assumes) of unnecessary plastic surgery. John Lithgow's part is interesting and surprisingly sympathetic. And there is a terrific outtake during the end credits featuring Melissa McCarthy.
The much-hyped connection with Knocked Up is utterly irrelevant.