ON AGING GRACEFULLY

DIRECTED BY JUDD APATOW 

STARRING: PAUL RUDD, LESLIE MANN, IRIS APATOW, MAUDE APATOW, ALBERT BROOKS, MEGAN FOX, JASON SEGEL, CHRIS O’DOWD, ANNIE MUMOLO, CHARLYNE YI, JOHN LITHGOW with LENA DUNHAM, GRAHAM PARKER and MELISSA McCARTHY 

That Judd Apatow has been (in my opinion) behind two of the best films Hollywood had produced in 2012 – ‘the Five-Year Engagement’ and ‘This is 40’ – is conclusive proof that the R-rated comedy is fast becoming one of the defining products of the industry these days. Apatow has teamed up with Universal Studios ever since ‘the 40-year old Virgin’ (2005), a collaboration that has given us a film every alternate year. As producer and director, Apatow works with a close-knit bunch of people – comedians and actors alike – a group that’s turning out to be thicker than the Frat-pack of the ‘90s, or maybe even the Monty Python crew. Together, they seem to be giving life to this new style of filmmaking that is so characteristic that it’s almost a trend. I shall leave it to the experts to come up with a suitable name. 

‘This is 40’ follows Pete (Paul Rudd) and Debbie (Leslie Mann) from Apatow’s ‘Knocked Up.’ In a manner of most Kevin Smith’s ‘askewniverse’ comedies, he doesn’t wait to develop these characters for us once again, trusting the audience with their memory, of the big details and maybe even the little things they might’ve noticed the last time around. Maude and Iris Apatow (real-life daughters of Apatow and Mann) play Sadie and Charlotte, who are thirteen and eight years old, respectively. Sadie resembles Debbie to such an extent, even in her compulsiveness and her temper. She watches the TV series ‘Lost’ wherever she finds it playing – on a computer, on her iPad, on a smart-phone – everywhere but the television. Charlotte, on the other hand, is a sport, probably following her Dad (and by ‘Dad’, I mean more Apatow than Pete), who is great at playing Angry Cow and the Trampoline. She also occasionally plays the keyboard, adding to a minimalistic soundtrack – just the way Apatow does it, all the time. 

The story is simple. Pete’s turning 40 soon. Debbie has just turned ‘38’. Which means she’s actually turned 40 but won’t admit it. She says she wants to be 38 for two more years. We have a feeling that these people stopped growing a whole lot before. From where we left them last, they seem to have gotten going better, with Pete setting up his own record label with an aim to resurrect people whom he liked listening to, growing up. A largely-contested move has him sign Graham Parker and the Rumour on their first record in 30 years. He aims to sell ten thousand records to Parker’s hardest fans. 

Debbie, on her part, runs a clothing line that shows unexplained losses. Jodi (Charlyne Yi) says Desi (Megan Fox) is behind it, both being sales clerks. Debbie – the famous control freak she is – is not going to let it go unnoticed. She watches tapes that show Desi to be guilty, but not of theft. She even goes Girls Gone Wild with her to get to the bottom of this. What she finds out is barely startling – as compared to what Pete seems to be hiding from her. 

If you expect extra-marital sexcapades, then let me bring you down on that right away; there are none. This is not a spoiler. Remember ‘Knocked Up’ where Debbie, Ben and Katie sneak upon Pete thinking he’s having an affair, only to find him playing fantasy baseball? Apatow jumps obstacles of mid-life crises as commonly represented in film. No one loses a job, even though there is a house on the line. There is a financial problem, it does stretch their marriage. But it doesn’t break it. Debbie isn’t as worried about Pete cheating on her as she’s worried about him sneaking money to give his Dad Larry (Albert Brooks) who’s raising three kids with a second wife. This worry – we second-guess – could be bitterness stemming from own absent dad Oliver (John Lithgow) – a neurosurgeon who does a cameo in her life for only as long as Mr. Lithgow does one in this film. 

‘This is 40’ is that sweet film of the year your kids can’t watch. Apatow seems to be popularizing that, getting middle-aged couples to go to the movies leaving kids behind with their baby-sitter – which is fair enough, considering they’d not want them inspired by the kids on screen, sweet though they are. What’s striking about an Apatow vehicle is the amount of depth he provides to the supporting characters. Even the weakest in this film – Jodi, another reeled in from ‘Knocked Up’ – has her moments, shaped by Charlyne Yi. Jason (Segel) retains keeps his flirtation with Debbie going as her physical trainer. There is an exciting scene in the film where he, along with Ronnie (Chris O’Dowd), one of Pete’s disapproving employees at the label, rates Desi against Debbie. Jason says she’s a seven who can become an eleven at best, as opposed to Debbie, who, he believes, has hit a twelve. This, for all we know, could be Apatow’s present to his wife, Ms. Mann, for her actual fortieth. 

I had called ‘the Five-Year Engagement’ and ‘This is 40’ as two of last year’s best that Hollywood had produced. I believe they are. Firstly, there hasn’t been much to compare them with. Secondly, like I said, Apatow strengthens his kind of filmmaking, retaining the influence of classic comic routines, yet giving his actors enough liberty that it almost looks like improv – which works for a film as this, where they’re either playing themselves or someone else as real. Third of all, Apatow – as both producer and director – has been consistently giving us comedies in the spirit of Hollywood storytelling, rooting themselves in both the romantic ideal of the dysfunctional marriage/relationship/household, and of dysfunction as it really is, presented in a vague self-parody. The effect, needless to say, is delightful – perhaps as delightful as a cupcake sneaked out from under your wife’s nose, or the little puff on a cigarette and a mint after, which your husband’s never going to know about. It’s a twelve on ten.

THE 'BAD DISNEY MOVIE' MADE ELSEWHERE

DIRECTED BY CARLOS SALDANHA

STARRING: JESSE EISENBERG, ANNE HATHAWAY, GEORGE LOPEZ, WILL I AM, JAMIE FOXX, RODRIGO SANTORO, JEMAINE CLEMENT, TRACY MORGAN, JAKE T. AUSTIN, WANDA SYKES, JANE LYNCH with RODRIGO SANTORO and LESLIE MANN

Every animal movie has ‘the Lion King’ plot in one way or another. ‘the Lion King’ itself derived from Shakespeare and Greek tragedies to some extent, but I’d still like to call it ‘the Lion King’ plot. Kind of makes it an animation standard. If you remember, ‘the Lion King’ was about a misplaced protagonist getting back to where he rightfully belongs as he takes his throne in the end. He’s like the Michael Corleone of the Pride Lands with the twist of responsibility that gets him back in the game, powered by purpose, fuelled by love, supported by an assortment of the foolhardy and the failsafe.

Walt Disney pictures might not have pioneered the coming-of-age movie, but they animated it first. ‘the Little Mermaid,’ ‘Tarzan’ through ‘Dinosaur,’ even ‘Lilo & Stitch,’ for that matter. They’ve raised the question of ‘home’ and ‘belonging’ much too often and they’ve resolved it as well to convincing extents. Far-fetched, yes. But convincing. Tarzan doesn’t leave the jungle, it’s Jane who stays back. It’s predominantly for the happy ending, so as to not send audiences back with a part of their hearts being taken from them than them leaving it behind as a token of having really ‘felt.’ Bolt, the dog, Rapunzel in ‘Tangled,’ who could so easily abandon the one she called ‘Mother’ for so long.

But then again, is ‘Win Win’ any different? That fine feel-good movie by Thomas McCarthy, one rooted with fondness in the American household. It dealt with a 17 year old finding home away from home; a family away from his Mother. His story was a triumph in that we know he wanted it. Like a David Copperfield away from his stepfather. But isn’t his desire just another device to manipulate us, to make us root for accomplishment of something he might not entirely desire? Patrick Kenzie in ‘Gone Baby Gone’ would put duty and moral obligation before everything. Disney would refute it, but only by rendering the other grass greener. We know who’d come out as heartless in the end.

‘Rio’ is like ‘the Lion King’ as much as ‘Madagascar’ was. Blu (Jesse Eisenberg) is a Blue Macaw and purportedly the last male of his kind. Like Alex the Lion, he’s taken away from the forests of Brazil as a baby and fostered elsewhere in a series of fortunate circumstances. Like Alex, again, he grows to love his place of refuge and the girl who willingly accepts him into her life. Linda Gunderson (Leslie Mann) is like the visiting crowd at the Central Zoo where Minnesota is like Alex’s New York. Alex can’t even roar right, Blu can’t fly. And he’s as convinced as Alex was in the fact that he’s found his talent and is content with it. He plays the nerd against the empty-head jock in Alex. He doesn’t have friends, though, but it’s easy for him to make some. Like Bolt, the dog, people pity him. And by ‘people,’ I mean a Red-Crested Cardinal Pedro (Will I am) and a Canary named Nico (Jamie Foxx).

Linda, on her part, is the sexy Librarian (literally) staying put until an ornithologist pecks at her door. It’s not her that he’s after. It’s Blu. He’s the last surviving male of his species and they want to take him down to Rio De Janeiro to mate with what looks to be the last female in Jewel (Anne Hathaway). The cause is bigger than the movie, obviously, but I felt it eluded. We’re looking at a bird that is almost extinct, a bird that watchers would go weak in the knees for, but we don’t feel it. To us, Blu is like Bolt, the dog, with feathers and a more characteristic voice. As much as I could find stereotype in just about everything the movie tried, I can’t help but give it to them for casting Eisenberg. Also clever is the little nudge on the ‘last woman in the world’ idea. Blu now has another reason to fall in love with Jewel. She’s all he’s got, she’s good and he can’t do better. And vice-versa.

The fact that Blu is a rare bird is double-edged, if you haven’t guessed it already. There’s a Mufasa in Nigel (Jermaine Clement) who’s a washed-out show cockatoo with thieving Monkeys to command than Hyenas. Actually, Nigel isn’t that much of a Mufasa; he’s more of the evil Roo in ‘Horton Hears a Who,’ without Dr. Seuss’ allegorical implications. Rafael (George Lopez) is Gil-meets-Gusteau where Blu does his own thinking; he’s smart. He’s like Simba with Nala for company. And Luiz the bulldog (Tracy Morgan) is like the Pelican Nigel in ‘Finding Nemo’ in a 100 percent match.

I like to think that no animated feature is unimpressive after having got its voices right. But then there are those films that have almost nothing to show. Like the ‘Ice Age’ series. Like ‘Open Season.’ Like ‘Chicken Little’ which would rank one on the worst of Disney. ‘Rio’ is somewhere in the middle. The bird is adorable with Eisenberg’s fresh exploit as exciting as Jay Baruchel in ‘How to Train your Dragon.’ The story is adequate. With the right prick at the right place, we’re supposed to have had tears as the end credits rolled. But it doesn’t do that. Linda doesn’t grow on you like Penny from ‘Bolt’ did. Jewel is no Dory. Nigel doesn’t spring a surprise like Anton Ego (from ‘Ratatouille’). Carlos Saldanha and his team have cracked the story with some high-end animation in hand. And yet they find themselves caught in a warp of the overused and the not-to-be-used.

What should have been a spectacle is reduced to a postcard at best. If I were to suggest a remedy, I’d say go hand-drawn. CGI made the procession look like Orcs marching with Samba music than a Howard Score. CGI made Linda look like a nerdy Barbie than an Ariel, Jasmine or a Tiana. What you can’t shoot, you generate. What you shouldn’t generate, you draw. Those who can’t draw ought to be content with just dreaming. And ‘Rio’ is like that dream that couldn’t quite make it beyond the software codes; where the magic, unlike Blu, couldn’t open its own cage-door.