40 Year Old Virgin Movie Review

For my money, the funniest character in a movie has got to be Brick Tamland in Anchorman. Everything that Brick did or said just inspired hearty guffaws out of me. Literally EVERYTHING. There's one shot where it just cuts to him shrugging and raising a banana for no apparent reason, and it got me. I'm laughing now just writing about it. Man, I'm a dork.

So anyway, the point I'm headed for is that Steve Carell made that movie for me. He stole it from Will Ferrell. That's hard to do. He also made Bruce Almighty worth watching. I'm prepared to say I will follow Steve Carell to the ends of the earth, no matter what he does.

Much to my surprise, a studio let him headline a movie. It's called The 40 Year Old Virgin. You may have seen the poster. The poster is perfect. It, too, cracks me up. Anyway, Steve co-wrote the film with Judd Apatow (who directs) and they have cooked up one of the funniest movies I have seen in a long time. Seriously, my face is still hurting from laughing so hard.

The premise is simple. Steve Carell plays Andy. I'll give you three guesses as to what his main characteristic may be. Anyway, Andy is a dork. he has a large collection of action figures (still in the box) and collectables that line his apartment walls. He rides a bike to work. He works at an electronics store, and is stock supervisor. When a co-worker asks him about his weekend, he goes into detail about the egg salad he made all day. (His friend's weekend exploits are hilarious, and a perfect way to open the flick). He doesn't have too many friends, and he watches Survivor with the elderly couple upstairs. Oh, and yeah, he's a virgin.

His co-workers discover this one night when they need a fifth player for a poker game and ask Andy to join in. They quickly decide that they need to get the man some sex. But more than just sex, they help Andy come out of his shell and become a man. More or less.

The movie is a lot smarter than you'd think it would be. And it has something that a lot of other movies of this type don't have, and that's a genuine heart. You actually care for Andy, and you want him to be happy. He's not just a one note character, he has some depth. When he meets Trish (Catherine Keener), the woman who works at the e-bay boutique across the street (explaining that is a great running gag in the flick), and they start to genuinely fall in love, you want them to get together. When she decides that they shouldn't rush into a physical relationship for at least fifteen dates, it strikes up hilarity, but you hope they make it that long. Hell, after a little while I started falling in love with Catherine Keener. She's gorgeous, funny, and all around fantastic. And her character feels like a real person.

There are a lot of other hilarious characters in the film, but they're all grounded in reality. Not cartoonish and idiotic, or merely serving a script point. Paul Rudd joins his Anchorman co-star as David, the floor salesman who's hung up on his ex-girlfriend (who broke up with him 2 years ago, and they only dated for 4 months). Seth Rogan is very funny as Cal, the pothead stock room buddy, and Romany Malco plays Jay, the smooth talking womanizer who tries hardest to get andy a woman. (There's a scene where he's trying to help Steve while watch the new Dawn of the Dead on the TV at the store that had me laughing pretty hard).

But the movie belongs to Carell. He brings a lot to the table, and he delivers. He's not as silly as Brick, but he's just as funny. Every situation he gets himself into is met with ridiculous results. And, as I mentioned before, he gives the character a soul. I really liked him in this movie. I can't stress that enough. There's a scene where Cal builds up Andy's confidence to go hit on a girl in a bookstore, but tells him to be cool, and kind of a dick. "Like David Caruso in 'Jade'". And it's hilarious to watch Andy's transformation. He shifts ever so subtly, and makes it work. Great acting.

By the way, the Jade reference got me very hard, and I was laughing forever at what an obscure reference that was. The movie has a lot of these, and they're all quite funny.

Now the movie I saw last night will probably not be the one that's seen in theaters when it's released in August. I saw the test screening, and it runs a little long. I can't give away the best comedic bits because a) you should discover them yourself, and b) some might not even make it to the final cut. And though most are in the trailer, you still don't get the full laughs. The problem is, though, the movie is hilarious all throughout, and while cutting things out is inevitable and probably won't affect the finished movie, you'll lose some great character moments. Like the bonds the four guys have as they accept Andy as more than just a creepy guy they work with. Or the tender relationship Andy starts to form with Trish's daughter. The things that distinguish this movie from just another comedy like American Pie or Old School (which I think are both hilarious films, don't get me wrong). Still, it will finally make the deleted scenes on the DVD worth watching.

Anyway, I can't recommend this movie enough. It's funny as hell (the R rating this will definitely receive lets you know that there are no holds barred) and it makes you feel good. When it comes out go see it. Twice, so you can catch the jokes you missed while laughing. And nominate Steve Carell to run your government. Well, maybe that's going a bit too far. I guess a Best Actor nomination is going too far, but the man deserves it.