The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005)

Cult comic actor Steve Carell--long adored for his supporting work on The Daily Show and in movies like Bruce Almighty and Anchorman--leaps into leading man status with The 40 Year-Old Virgin. There's no point describing the plot; it's about how a 40 year-old virgin named Andy (Carell) finally finds true love and gets laid. Along the way, there are very funny scenes involving being coached by his friends, speed dating, being propositioned by his female manager, and getting his chest waxed. Carell finds both humor and humanity in Andy, and the supporting cast includes some standout comic work from Paul Rudd (Clueless, The Shape of Things) and Jane Lynch (Best in Show, A Mighty Wind), as well as an unusually straight performance from Catherine Keener (Lovely & Amazing, Being John Malkovich). And yet... something about the movie misses the mark. It skirts around the topic of male sexual anxiety, mining it for easy jokes, but never really digs into anything that would make the men in the audience actually squirm--and it's a lot less funny as a result. Nonetheless, there are many great bits, and Carell deserves the chance to shine. --Bret Fetzer Amazon.com

Funny

The 40-Year-Old Virgin is one of those independent films that comes along, every so often, and becomes a hit. A few years ago it was My Big Fat Greek Wedding that was a surprise hit, and a few years before that it was The Blair Witch Project. This film is superior to both of those earlier films, and has more in common with another sleeper film that predated both of those films, 1998's Office Space, which was one of the first films to flop theatrically, yet become a big hit on the then-new DVD format. The 40-Year-Old Virgin shares a similar sensibility toward the dullness of the work environment (this time a Circuit City/Best Buy like electronics store vs. a computer programming company, but its satire of the workplace is dead on.
The difference between The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Office Space, however, is that the bulk of the newer film focuses on the personal lives of its lead character and his co-workers David (Paul Rudd)- who's stalking his ex-girlfriend, Jay (Romany Malco)- a black, bald Lothario, and Cal (Seth Rogen)- an ugly, bearded wannabe novelist, who make it their mission to get him laid at any cost. Andy Stitzer (Steve Carell, of Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy and the NBC tv show The Office) is a collector of `action figures' from the 1970s and 1980s (such as The Six Million Dollar Man's boss, Oscar Goldman), avid Survivor watcher, along with an old black neighbor, has a framed Asia rock poster, a ton of video games, and has somehow never managed to get laid in his four decades, although he's come close. Any male who has pined for females that he never got to be with will be able to relate to Andy's dilemma- if not to the extent of Andy's angst, certainly the gist of it. His co-worker's advice ranges from the bad to the ridiculous, as each of them could easily be termed loser, as well. He agrees to go out with his pals, and ends up being puked on by a gorgeous, but drunken blond named Nicky (Leslie Mann), who nearly gets them both killed with her driving. He then hits on Beth (Elizabeth Banks), a sexpot at the local bookstore, and succeeds in getting her interested. That's when he meets a sexy and kind divorced grandmother named Trish (Catherine Keener), who runs an EBay store at the same mall where Andy's store is.... It's a chick flick for guys, in a sense, yet better for it. Watch this film at least once every year or two, and it'll never get old, for there always have been and always will be Andy Stitzers. That's a damned good thing!
September 18, 2008

40 Year Old Virgin

Such a cute movie & very funny. A great story about (as another reviewer says) guys that care about each other. Beware for children that there is nudity, lots of 'dirty words' and adult situations. But it's all there to build the plot and characters. I love this movie and it's happy ending! June 14, 2008

Eight minutes

The title alone convinced me to never watch this movie, but then a buddy loaned it to me.

The premise does work. You see how this guy lives, and he's credible as a character and as a virgin. I love his bicycle, and I haven't driven anything with a motor since moving to Asia in December 1999, so I notice such things.

However, the humor just wasn't funny. Very lame, pre-teen, predictable. He's surrounded by stereotypes, and really isn't he one too? I found it impossible to care, so I watched something else.

But hey, two stars. That is one more than I expected to give. Way to go movie!
June 2, 2008

Vindicated and Bittersweet

I'll be the first to say that this film was honest and funny. Yet for me this spoke of a common obsession today: finding a soul mate or the one true love. Under all of the jokes and utter vulgar references to a vagina it is a love story. It is basically a movie about a man who just happens to be a virgin due to some hellish attempts and it comes to be know to his co-workers then he starts a journey to find a relationship. And he is given advice from questionable characters that become is friends. At the end of the day his so called "experts" or friends are the ones who have no idea what love really is and are taught by the virgin. This movie shines in so many aspects that it is a masterpiece. It is a smart and honest movie that is extremely hilarious. Steve Carell is amazing and the whole cast was amazing in all fronts. So if you like Judd Apatow this is a good movie for you. April 17, 2008

An Affirmation for Every Lonely Guy Who Never "Got There"

This movie is an excellent commentary about contemporary beliefs about sex and relationships, and aging nerdy guys who never had girlfriends, who are too depressed to bother to change things, who tacitly accept that they will never meet that special someone.

Andy (Steve Carell) is a stock supervisor at an electronics store, and his best friends are three salesmen at the store, who frequently regale each other with tales of adventures with the opposite sex. At a poker game, Andy is challenged to tell a story of his own. Awkwardly he reveals that he has no sex stories, because he is a virgin-- at 40. Shocked and yet empathetic, his buddies all try to get him to get friendlier with women with the intent of becoming physically intimate-- his buddies are all horndogs (including recent comic star Seth Rogen), and a series of comic misadventures takes place, involving everything from drunken clubgoers to a speed-dating service to transvestites to... well, it may not be polite to print.
Along the way, Andy meets a friendly single mother, and after much self-protest, Andy brings himself to talk to her and go on a series of dates-- she really likes Andy-- but his own fear of sex leads him to arbitrarily induce a 20-date minimum before they go any further than kissing-- which leads to some unforeseen complications.

Despite the casual profanity and the juvenilia that permeates the entire film, there is an endearing message about "waiting" and the myriad frustrations of 'nice guys' that manages to come across. The very end of the moving is shocking and surreal, but in a good way.

Bonus features include various scenes not already re-cut into the extended edition as well as other outtakes, and cast/filmmaker commentary. April 13, 2008

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