This is 40 (minutes too long)

Getting old is a bitch. At least that’s the point of This is 40, writer-director Judd Apatow’s sort-of sequel to 2007’s Knocked Up. The film centers on Debbie (Leslie Mann) and Pete (Paul Rudd), a couple (still) struggling with their marriage. He’s a record exec trying to resuscitate the career of singer-songwriter Graham Parker, and she’s an entrepreneur hoping her boutique store will turn into a moneymaker. But they’re parents who aren’t making ends meet, and it doesn’t help that Pete keeps loaning money to his deadbeat dad (Albert Brooks, grasping his youth by marrying a younger woman and having children) and continues to think that reuniting Parker with his backing band The Rumour will somehow increase record sales.

Debbie has her own problems, too. She suspects one of her employees (Megan Fox) is secretly stealing from her to the tune of $10,000. Debbie and Pete’s problems are compounded by the fact that their sex life is less frisky and Pete has to pop a Viagra every time they get frisky. Their constant fighting is taking a toll on their children, too, who don’t understand why they yell at each other so much.

Apatow’s script is quiet funny (he even gives his two kids, whom he cast as Debbie and Pete’s children, some terrific one-liners). But the comedy grinds to a halt in the second half as Debbie and Pete’s marriage appears to be on the brink of falling apart and the serious tone overwhelms the humor. Plus, the plot develops so slowly, it makes the 134 minutes really crawl. Much like Apatow’s 2009 endeavor, Funny People, there’s just not enough to the story to sustain the film.