A new featurette for writer/director/producer Judd Apatow’s upcoming comedy This Is 40 has been released.  The film picks up five years after the events of Apatow’s Knocked Up and centers on the relationship between the characters played by Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann.  In this featurette, Apatow explains how he decided to bring those characters back for this “sort-of sequel,” and Mann and Rudd talk about the real-life problems facing their characters.  We also get to see quite a bit of new footage that showcases more of the film’s humor, but I’m really interested to see how Apatow balances the film’s dramatic elements.  He’s got two incredibly talented leads in Rudd and Mann, so here’s hoping the film nails that comedy/drama sweet spot.

Hit the jump to watch the featurette.  The film also stars Albert Brooks, John Lithgow, Iris Apatow, Maude Apatow, Megan Fox, Jason Segel, Robert Smigel, and Charlyne Yi.  This Is 40 opens on December 21st.

Click over to Yahoo! to watch in HD.

Here’s the synopsis for This Is 40:

Writer/director/producer Judd Apatow (The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Funny People) brings audiences This Is 40, an original comedy that expands upon the story of Pete (Paul Rudd) and Debbie (Leslie Mann) from the blockbuster hit Knocked Up as we see firsthand how they are dealing with their current state of life.