Pete (Paul Rudd) and Debbie (Leslie Mann) are hitting middle
age and have to deal with all the problems that come with it, from their
respective careers to their relationship issues.
This movie is shit. Pure whiny, emo shit featuring a cast of
characters that are so fucking selfish and immature that I had a hard time
understanding why Apatow felt that they would be a great focal point for a
flick. I hated each and every one of them, including their asshole kids, effed
up parents and their douchey friends. How in the world can you make a movie
that follows around completely unlikable people for 2 ½ hours and expect an
audience to connect with them? Apatow was completely deluded in that regard,
and in the end this sad excuse for a movie boils down to it being a starring
vehicle for his wife, Leslie Mann, who is better suited to secondary characters
in ensemble casts.
The characters of Pete and Debbie have not changed at all
since their appearance in Knocked Up,
and as far as I’m concerned have actually gotten worse when it comes to their
attitudes and maturity levels. Pete just wants to run his overly unsuccessful
record company and is unwilling to part with it regardless that it’s dragging
his family into bankruptcy. He is easily guilted into forking money he doesn’t
have over to his deadbeat moocher Dad (Albert Brooks) who, like all the other
self-centered asshats in this flick, decided to have test tube triplets when he
couldn’t afford to father even one. Pete even has intimacy issues and would
rather sit on the toilet playing Words with Friends on his iPad than spend time
with his family. He also wants to just go out and have fun with his friends
despite having responsibilities at home.
Debbie is a whiny bitch and everything has to revolve around
her. She’s made out to be a complete shrew and no matter if any other character
is on the right side of an argument, she’s always the one who is right even if
she is completely wrong. She never wants sex when her husband wants it, and we
see that wear him down until he isn’t even interested anymore, and then when
she does want it and is similarly turned down has a temper tantrum that would
make some 3 year olds blush. She is judgmental and only cares about what and
who is hot, which is why she automatically assumes that her employee, played by
Megan Fox, is innocent of embezzling money from her store just because she’s
sexy and brings in the most business. And like her husband, she also lies with
nearly every breath she takes.
And the icing on the cake is that all these problems, be it
emotional, psychological or physical, are blamed on their parents. Take some
fucking responsibility for your own shitty issues and don’t hand them off to
someone who is never there (according to this movie they have very little
contact with their folks). I just wanted to reach through the television and
choke out these two dickheads. Seriously Apatow, WTF?!
The performances of the leads are very broad, and they seem
to be trying way too hard. Paul Rudd, who is either very good (I Love You, Man) or incredibad (Our Idiot Brother) and never in-between,
is definitely the better of the two. He never resorts to huge theatrics to sell
his character, but he can’t seem to find any way to make his character
relatable or even likable. The same goes for Leslie Mann, who goes
completely off the deep end, obviously trying to bring some sort of liveliness to
the dull script, but she just comes off as an insane overachiever. When I say
that Megan Fox runs circles around her in the acting department you know that
something has gone horribly wrong.
All of the co-stars are the same. Not even the supremely
funny Chris O’Dowd (The IT Crowd)
comes off as a decent guy as Pete’s co-worker. Surprisingly Robert Smigel (of
Triumph the Insult Comic Dog fame) gets a few moments of something resembling
humanity, but they are fleeting since he’s in less than ten minutes of the
film. Jason Segel, who normally is hilarious with little effort, is written as
a pretentious douche hammer and I wanted his character to die a horrible
flaming death by gas station explosion whenever he would rear his ugly head.
Apatow seems to have lost his ability to write anyone as a decent human being,
or he’s just transferred his own assholish tendencies over to his characters.
I find it hard to believe that this is an accurate
representation of married life at 40. I’m nearly that age and I have never and
most likely will never cross the line into completely adolescent behavior while
tossing the blame for my actions around to people I hardly know. That would be
like me saying that it’s my Cousin Christina’s fault that I don’t like tomato
sauce on my pasta (she lives in Italy and I’ve met her once). If this is what
life in Apatow’s house is like I have a few words for him – “Grow the fuck up and
get some long overdue counseling”. If that’s not the case he has a particularly
fucked up world view and I reiterate the counseling bit.
In closing, this movie is unfunny, tedious, infuriating and
a waste of time. I’ve had more amusing visits to the orthodontist, and I hated
my orthodontist. Avoid this flick like the plague.
1 out of 5
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