Battle of the Rom-Coms: I Give It a Year vs. This Is 40
I Give It a Year Review
I was expecting this to be a standard rom com affair considering its from the producers of Love Actually and Bridget Jones, and to most degrees I was right. That isn't to say that it was a bad film, far from it, it is in fact one of the better rom coms I've seen recently.
The thing that kept me engaged through most of the film was the humour, the characters were bland and lacked depth, I wasn't really interested in what the characters did by the end of the film. The humour on the other hand was great, its the witty British kind that you dont get in something like No Strings Attached or any other of the schmaltzy and sickly sweet Hollywood productions. The best character by far was the one played by Stephen Merchant, he did a brilliant job of providing some unashamadly dirty and offensive jokes, without being overly crude like the recent Movie 43.
The plot of the film was standard, it worked on a mind numbing, popcorn munching level but nothing more than that. In fact It seems as though there hasn't been any original thought put into this film at all, so while the humour may work on a surface level, the intelligence just wasnt there for me. *SPOILERS* The end of the film was the only thing that made the plot a little more barable, rather than go down the expected route of the couple being happily reunited after realising that they do in fact love each other, they get a divorce, which was slightly unexpected.
As well as the somewhat dull plot, there were a good many dull performances in the film as well. Anna Faris in particular played an awful part, and should really stick to the dumb American comedies as she can't seem to play any sort of role other than the one she's played in all 5000 Scary Movies. Spall and Byrne as the two main characters both played decent roles, although they were nothing special or mind blowing they seemed to at least have at least some sort of superficial depth to them, which kept my attention for the duration of the film.
So while the film itself may be a standard and generic rom com, the humour is actually brilliant and the witty one liners from Stephen Merchant are worth the price of admission alone.
6/10
This Is 40 Review
I went into this film not knowing a thing about it, I hadn't really watched the trailers and didn't know what it was about. I did however go in with a pre judged idea of what it was going to be like, and while I was wrong and pleasantly surprised, it still didn't completely float my boat.
The film is very long, too long in fact, it's so long that it has been aptly named 'This is 40 minutes too long'. Judd Apatow has directed some of my most hated films including Anchorman and Superbad, so its understandable that I was apprehensive about this one. It was a pleasant surprise in that it wasn't dumb, it wasn't slapstick and It was in fact dialogue driven. While I haven't seen Knocked Up, the spiritual predesessor to This is 40, I was told that it's a similar affair by my girlfriend, so if you've seen that you already have an idea what this film is like. It feels unscripted, and while it is tightly scripted, it felt more like a mumblecore film than a Hollywood rom com. The surprise appearance of Lena Dunham, an actress and director who made her fame in the wonderful Tiny Furnature, a mumblecore film helped to give that sort of feeling to the film, which I enjoyed. Being a dialogue driven film you'd like to think that the dialogue is 100% on point, its not, it is rather good though. Many of the jokes in the film are subtle, and are blink and you'll miss it moments, that is of course exluding some of the more crude gags, and a side splitting appearance from Melissa McCarthy who plays an angry school boy's mother.
The performances were pretty solid throughout the film, Paul Rudd and Lesley Mann as the main characters had chemistry, and managed to provide some good laughs, the daughters also played good roles, with the youngest giving some heart to the film. The camera work was typical of the genre, it worked but it wasn't anything new or exciting.
While some of the jokes are hit and miss, and the film drags on for way too long, I'd say that This is 40 manages to be on par with I Give it a Year, and provides some entertainment, even if it is light and frivolous.
6/10
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