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By CityThe 40-Year Old Virgin ****1/2 out of 5
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The 40-Year Old Virgin ****1/2 out of 5A One Joke Premise Surpasses All Expectations
2005-08-28
Article Written by: Todd Darby
The poster basically says it all: Steve Carell is The 40-Year Old Virgin. You have to admit that just this poster alone is hilarious with Steve Carell sporting a vacant smile and deer caught in headlights stare. Sure it's funny and if you have seen the poster in question, you're probably giggling about it right now but there's no way they could make this idea into a full length feature film, right? A Saturday Night Live sketch, maybe but... Somehow, the right amount of raunchy, absurd humor and sensitivity for its characters were mixed to make this film one of the most surprisingly entertaining and funny movies of the year.
Steve Carell, best known as one of the two Steves from Comedy Central's "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" (the best show on television right now), is given his first starring role as Andy, a shy and awkward electronics store employee, who collects action figures. When his fellow employees discover that Andy has "never gotten around to having sex with a girl", they make it their mission to help him get laid. They take him out to bars to "pick up drunk chicks", give him bad advice such as telling him to act like David Caruso in Jade, and take him to get his body hair waxed, in a very funny and very painful scene that you may have seen only part of on the commercials. Believe me, there's a lot more to the scene than "Kelly Clarkson!". Andy, however, just wants to find a woman to fall in love with, who may be Catherine Keener (who has been great in almost every movie she's ever been).
I really don't want to give away any more of the plot or the jokes in the film. The TV ads have already give away some jokes and sadly, as with most movies these days, we know almost everything that's going to happen before we even see it from the theatrical trailers. I do think that most people will be quite surprised by how The 40-Year Old Virgin plays out though.
The character of Andy is silly and a dork but he is the film's hero. There is real emotion here and you want to see him happy. The relationship between Carell and Keener works perfectly and is actually quite romantic. Andy's buddies, played by Romany Malco, Seth Rogen, and the scene stealing Paul Rudd are all great. Their conversations are not just really, really funny but realistic and natural and like the way guys really talk. Not something that happens a whole lot in movies about relationships these days. Most of this is probably due to director Judd Apatow, who co-wrote the screenplay with Steve Carell. Judd Apatow also directed the insanely funny Will Ferrall comedy Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, which co-starred Steve Carell and Paul Rudd. There are also some great performances from the actors in smaller roles, like the other electronic store employees and the various girls Steve Carell's character attempts to have "devirginize" him.
This is one of the funniest films I've seen in a long time. I was falling out of my seat, holding my stomach, and crying. I was also holding my stomach, and crying during War of the Worlds too but that was for completely different reasons. "Why did Spielberg make this crap?!". As you may have guessed from the title, this one is definitely NOT for the kiddies. Well, duh! So take the R rating seriously for this seriously funny film. Steve Carell should hopefully be starring in many more films this funny ad good in the future.
