Cast: If you put me in charge of casting for a movie, you basically have a Judd Apatow film. Melissa McCarthy, Jason Segel, Charlyne Yi, Chris O'Dowd, Albert Brooks, Lena Dunham, John Lithgow. Yeah, they're all there and damn funny or just plain good in it. Even Megan Fox is about as capable as I've seen her. Granted, she plays "hot girl" so it's not a great stretch. The key players in this are Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann reprising their roles as Pete and Deb and they play the same scene-stealing characters they were in Knocked Up except they don't have to steal the attention this time. They are as great as ever and fleshed out wonderfully from the sometimes oversimplified look at them previously. Also, as far as director's kids go, Maude and Iris Apatow hit every note that is asked of them.
Plot: A lot of filmmakers treat their work as a type of therapy. Few are as blatant about it as Judd Apatow who cast his family and replaced himself with Paul Rudd. I'm fine with that. It is pretty obvious though. In short, the story is an examination of why Pete and Deb are together and why they make it seem so hard sometimes, but with a ton of funny jokes in it. Apatow lets the story breath a lot, so it is a little long for a comedy although greatly improved from Funny People in that respect. It is not purely a comedy though. Shit gets rule at a few points. Never for too long and never too dark to come back from quickly. Sad isn't Apatow's game. Honest would be the best word for it.
Elephant in the Room: This looks like a bunch of rich white people problems. That's because it is, to be blunt. At least, in the same way that Girls is about privileged twenty-somethings, for example. You can choose to look at it as a bunch of people complaining about the problems in their blessed lives, but frankly, I have no respect for how you watch or read or process anything. It's about the pressures of life in general. If you can't see it for that, I'm not going to bother trying to convince you otherwise.
To Sum Things Up:
The line between my taste being merely influence by and outright defined by Apatow comedies is extremely blurred. The overlap or taste and product for me is pretty complete. Needless to say, this is one of my favorite movies of the year. Easily the best comedy since 21 Jump Street. I can't speak from an objective viewpoint. I just can't. I loved this movie in it's entirety. I hope you do too, but I'm prone to build up movies like this too much since they hit my sweet spot, so perhaps some restraint is needed.
Verdict (?): Strongly Recommend
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