With This Is 40, Apatow gets closer to making his quintessential dramedy — one which may not deftly express the universal
experience of midlife (as if there even is one), but moves past its veneer of
autobiographical verisimilitude and rings with something like
real truth.
Bringing personal
experiences (both
real and imagined) into contact with broader historical, social, and political topics, his expansive practice has been described as an «
autobiographical journey through the architecture of modern life — constantly rebuilt as it is retold.»