You can find the trailer here for the fourth film Judd Apatow has directed: http://themoviebox.net/1080. I actually found it a bit, well, soft and surprisingly light on laughs, but it’s hard to judge anything with less than two minutes of footage. This is 40 focuses on Pete (Paul Rudd) and Debbie (Leslie Mann) from Knocked Up (2007), the bickering couple that brought a kind of Cassavetes-like realism to the otherwise frothily conventional proceeding of the film’s A-plot. Don’t get me wrong: Ben and Alison’s arguments could get intense, but there was never any question that the two would end up together. And even though they called ample attention to it, the central couple’s charted path stretched believability more than a little. Pete and Debbie, on the other hand, seemed less like a movie couple and more like the couple across the street from you, stuck in a suburban hell with temporary respites and eternal weariness. Knocked Up ties Ben and Alison up in a nice bow, but it essentially strands Pete and Debbie in their matrimonial contentiousness. It’s for this reason that I’m both optimistic and cautious about revisiting this tale. On one hand, it’s a great chance for Apatow to mine additionally personal material and portray a hyper-realistic marriage with a sharper eye toward Cassavetes-lite. On the other hand, I’m not sure that the material warrants a dominantly comic take. There’s humor in bickering and mid-life crises, of course, but it’s a humor that seems more suited to the backdrop. After Apatow pushed his brand to more overtly dramatic territory in the not so enthusiastically received Funny People (2009), it’ll be interesting to see if the film will be saddled with the burden of “returning” to big laughs and less raw emotion. The December release date has me hopeful that people won’t be expecting some kind of Hangover-like summer comedy smash. The connection with Knocked Up is a tenuous one, because the subject matter seems closer to Funny People than The 40 Year Old Virgin or that film. I’m also slightly worried that things will become too glossy—this appears to be a story yearning for clear vision, not even-handed wishy-washiness. I guess what I’m saying is that I hope Apatow continues to let his dramatic beats breathe, without attempting to force laughter or attempting to outright stifle it. But enough rambling.

In addition to Rudd, Mann, and Maude and Iris Apatow, we’ll be getting Jason Segel (Knocked Up), Charlyne Yi (Knocked Up), Lena Dunham (Girls), Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids), Chris O’Dowd (Bridesmaids), Megan Fox (Friends With Kids), and Albert Brooks and John Lithgow. They’re all sure to provide plenty of laughs, but audiences should not expect a Seth Rogen comedy here. No one brings the stoner raunch like Rogen, so it’s best that people not look for it elsewhere and that Apatow not try to duplicate it elsewhere. But I have a suspicion that in December, my fears will be dutifully relieved, and we’ll be looking at a properly filthy Apatow Christmas comedy that’s nevertheless shot through with his signature warmth.

-Rob