The 40-Year-Old Virgin

From AwardAnnals

Reviews

Amazon.com

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

Barnes and Noble

Comedian Steve Carell has quickly gone from a correspondent’s slot on Comedy Central’s Daily Show to an ace-in-the-hole scene-stealer in such hits as Bruce Almighty, Anchorman, and Bewitched. But few saw him as a leading man, at least until this winning comedy became a surprise box-office smash. The film’s title tells you the basic premise: Carell plays Andy Spitzer, a nice guy who never quite got around to getting it on, and who has filled that void in his life with video games and collectible ‘70s action figures. He works in the stock room of an electronics megastore, where his co-workers (Paul Rudd, Seth Rogen, and Romany Malco) view him as “the quiet type.” But when the guys find out that Andy’s sexual history is a blank slate, it becomes their mission to change his course. This involves a series of hilarious bad dates and some of the worst relationship advice ever heard. (At one point, Rogen’s character tells Andy, “Be stoic; like David Caruso in Jade.”) He also meets a sweet single mom (Catherine Keener) who may be The One. The most infamous scene, however, is when the guys take Andy to get his chest waxed—which Carell actually endured on-camera—and the stream of vulgarities unleashed from his mouth during it rivals that of anything heard in Scarface. Actually, the whole of The 40-Year-Old Virgin is a no-holds-barred raunch-fest that makes such R-rated comedies as The Wedding Crashers or even There’s Something About Mary seem tame by comparison. But the screenplay, co-written by Carrell and director Judd Apatow (Freaks and Geeks), never forgets that filthy isn’t automatically funny. You need real jokes, which Virgin has in spades, rivaling Wedding Crashers as 2005’s funniest film. Apatow and Carrell also understand that it doesn’t hurt to have likable characters, a generous dose of heart, or an out-of-the-blue musical number. You’ll laugh—a lot. You may even cry. But won’t go running to get a wax job any time soon. Bill Pearis

Related works

The 40 Year-Old Virgin: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Various Artists

Soundtracks are all about setting a mood, so right away you know what to expect from one called The 40-Year-Old Virgin. Sure, it could try to portray the psychological complexity of the situation (though that would be a little creepy), but silly is definitely the safest and most-expected course. And “silly,” “safe,” and “expected” are the three words that best describe the The 40-Year-Old Virgin CD. You don’t need to see the movie to imagine what kind of scene might accompany Michael McDonald’s “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” Lionel Richie’s…