Three years on from Funny People, Judd Apatow has returned to the director’s chair with this take on the mid-life crisis.

As expected, This Is 40 is – whilst focusing a little too readily on the white, wealthy and privileged – packed with plenty that makes it widely relevant and appealing: searing one-liners, achingly acute observations and likeable, funny performances from everyone involved. The trouble is, one can’t help feeling that, in making a film essentially about nothing that clocks in at over two hours, Apatow has gotten a little complacent.

Pete (Paul Rudd) and Debbie (Leslie Mann), sister and brother-in-law of Katherine Heigl’s Alison in Knocked Up, take centre stage in this semi-sequel. Five years on, Pete has his own record label, Debbie has her own boutique and both are about to turn forty. Their daughters Sadie (Maude Apatow) and Charlotte (Iris Apatow) are growing up fast and, what with both Pete and Debbie’s fathers (Albert Brooks and John Lithgow) causing problems and money worries mounting up, cracks are starting to show in the marriage.

First off, this whole concept is essentially an expanded version of the substantial Pete and Debbie thread running through Knocked Up. Pete is still messing up with his so-laid-back-he’s-horizontal approach to life, Debbie is still stressing about getting old and the kids are, well, still being kids. There’s nothing new enough here, in other words, to warrant a film of this length. What’s worse, large portions of the 133 minutes feel like filler material built around irrelevant supporting roles; Megan Fox turns in one of her best performances in a long while as Debbie’s painfully youthful shop assistant, but it’s wasted in this overlong, unfocused film.

Essentially, it would appear, Apatow is a man who – having earned his keep with a run of box office successes – has been afforded the luxury of making a film about his own life. And while that film is funny and truthful in places, it’s built upon the sort of self-indulgence that shouldn’t really have a place in modern cinema.

All that aside, This Is 40 is full of just enough charm and humour to keep you entertained. As ever, Apatow has the keen knack for observing the details of real life and relaying them in such a way that their comic potential is fully exploited. There are even some laugh out loud moments (“Who takes half an hour to go to the bathroom?” “John Goodman”). What’s more, it’s incredibly hard not to sympathise with the characters – Rudd and Mann are, as per, on fine form as the suitably complicated leads.

Perhaps the most confusing thing about this film is that Apatow chose to make it as a film in the first place. As he proved early on in his career, with Freaks & Geeks and Undeclared, his low-concept, humour-slanted approach to storytelling lends itself perfectly to the TV format and This Is 40’s meandering, episodic nature would work far better as a six or twelve part comedy series than a bloated feature film.

Ultimately, Apatow is still at the top of his game when it comes to writing truthful, zingy dialogue. We’d just like to see more plot and less filler next time, please Judd.

Released in UK cinemas on Thursday 14 February 2013 by Universal.

> Buy Knocked Up on DVD on Amazon.

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