59
Metascore
39 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 91Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanEntertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanThis Is 40 isn't always hilarious, but it's ticklishly honest and droll about all the things being a parent can do to a relationship. And why it's still worth it.
- 80VarietyJustin ChangVarietyJustin ChangJudd Apatow's instincts have rarely been sharper, wiser or more relatable than in This Is 40, an acutely perceptive, emotionally generous laffer about the joys and frustrations of marriage and middle age.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyThe Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyEven with all its ups and downs, there are more than enough bawdy laughs and truthful emotional moments to put this over as a mainstream audience pleaser during a holiday season short on good comedies.
- 70The New YorkerDavid DenbyThe New YorkerDavid DenbyFor Apatow, one guesses, the only things that can forestall death are comedy (the movie is full of superb comics, including Albert Brooks and Melissa McCarthy) and the flourishing of his children, Maude and Iris, who appear in the movie as Debbie and Pete's daughters.
- 60Time OutJoshua RothkopfTime OutJoshua RothkopfIt all comes down to the Big Birthday Party and a furious bike ride, which he's clearly done before, in "The 40 Year Old Virgin."
- 58The PlaylistDrew TaylorThe PlaylistDrew TaylorApatow indulges in his freeform tendencies to a particularly destructive degree with This is 40, resulting in a movie in which the ambitions are only equaled by the shortcomings.
- 38Slant MagazineJesse CataldoSlant MagazineJesse CataldoIt certainly suffers from the staleness of its off-the-cuff, improv-inspired mode of comedy, which prizes free-form riffing over organically constructed comedic scenarios.
- 30Boxoffice MagazineAmy NicholsonBoxoffice MagazineAmy NicholsonApatow has drifted further and further from comedy with every film, but This is 40 is the first where he hasn't even bothered to write any jokes. Instead of snappy dialogue, we get lazy exchanges.