Spidersecu
Don't Believe the Hype
Inmechon
The movie's only flaw is also a virtue: It's jammed with characters, stories, warmth and laughs.
Edison Witt
The first must-see film of the year.
malmborgimplano-92-599820
My sister the Cumberbabe says this is unwatchable. She gave up on it after a couple of episodes. I didn't literally watch the entire series, but I did listen to the whole thing while shredding some papers and glancing up now and then, which isn't a bad way to experience it if like me you're really not a fan of low, heavy-handed dumb-dumb farce in which everyone is either really stupid, mean, or mean AND stupid.To me the only thing this series has going for it is that amazing cast (Hugh Laurie and Benedict Cumberbatch playing father and son is an idea worth trying again in better circumstances) but since the clowning they have to do is so tasteless and embarrassing it's not much fun. The sex farce stuff with the young people (what my sister calls the "Mum, he's shagging my girlfriend!" stuff) and the lame-butted "Twelfth Night" derived sequence in which Capaldi and Chancellor do Malvolio and Olivia just made me hate whoever was responsible for it.
blanche-2
I found this little gem when I was desperately searching Netflix for anything Benedict Cumberbatch had ever done. Lo and behold, Hugh Laurie is the star, though after watching him on House, he sounds dubbed speaking with his real British accent! You have to really appreciate what a wonderful actor he is - for House, he has lowered his voice as well.Fortysomething is about a family of crazies - Hugh Laurie plays Paul Slippery, a doctor; his pretty wife Estelle, played by Anna Chancellor, is a headhunter; her boss is lesbian Gwendolen Hartley (Sheila Hancock). The Slipperys have three hormonal sons: Rory (Cumberbatch), Daniel (Neil Henry), and Edwin (Joe Van Morland). Daniel has stolen Rory's girlfriend Lucy (Siobhan Hewlett) while Rory was away, and Rory's girlfriend and her sister Laura (Emma Ferguson) seem to be living at the house. Paul's partner (Philip Manikum) is a complete maniac after Estelle, sending her sexy emails which have been erotically answered by son Daniel.Fortysomething is a bit chaotic, as families are, and very, very funny. When Paul admonishes Daniel for just walking in his parents' bedroom without knocking, saying, "We might have been..." -- Daniel looks at him and laughs as if the idea is absurd. Paul has just as bad a time at work, as does Estelle.This series streams on Netflix. Unfortunately, it only ran a season in Britain; I understand the time slot was changed or something. Delightful to see these actors.
pensman
You need to allow this vehicle to grow on you. The first episode is a bit difficult as it tries to introduce the family and their various problems. Hugh Laurie plays a sexually needy doctor married to a very attractive wife but he can't recall the last time they had sex and he wants sex. His sons are either all sexually involved or want to be. His wife isn't opposed to sex but the viewer isn't sure what she wants to happen. About the middle of the second episode you begin to chuckle and by the third episode you begin to laugh out loud. For a House devotee it can be disconcerting to see a bumbling Hugh Laurie speaking with an English accent but once you accept Laurie as a completely different character in ludicrous situations this comedy will tickle your funny bone.
Adrian Bailey
Although I agree that 40sthg was funny and well acted, and that it was a shame that it was demoted to a later timeslot, it did begin to pall after the first few episodes. I don't know, I think that the project was strung out too much; maybe the episodes should've been fewer or shorter, or it should've been a movie rather than a series. When you have several irritating characters I think you have to expect that the viewing public will also begin to get irritated, well before the denouement arrives to make it all seem worthwhile.
