The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005)

Genre

Comedy | Romance

Director

Judd Apatow

Country

USA

Cast

Steve Carell, Catherine Keener, Paul Rudd, Romany Malco, Seth Rogen, Jane Lynch, Elizabeth Banks, Leslie Mann, Kat Dennings, Gerry Bednob, Jordan Masterson, Shelley Malil, Jonah Hill, Marisa Guterman, Marika Dominczyk, Mindy Kaling, Mo Collins, Kimberly Page

Storyline

40-year-old Andy (Steve Carell) has a nice life complete with an action figure collection and a cushy job at an electronics store, still he hasn't had sex. After accidentally revealing it to his colleagues, they help him get laid. But along the way Andy meets a nice mom, Trish (Catherine Keener), and they fall in love for each other.

Opinion

I remember seeing the trailer on TV a decade ago, but I was too young to watch the film. When I was old enough, I didn't care much for it. Now I didn't have many expectations, and maybe it's because my expectations were so low that I've enjoyed the film so much.

"The 40-Year-Old Virgin" is a crude, nasty and often ridiculously funny comedy that somehow manages to be a notch above most of the other sex comedies.

The plot is quite simple - a man is forty and a virgin, and his co-workers try to get him laid -, it sure is one of the most childish ideas ever and the filmmakers do nothing to conceal its nature, yet the film somehow manages to tell a quite complex story, that is funny and gives a lesson at the same time.

The film could easily have turned out a lot differently. It could have been an endless sequence of sex gags and jokes. Sure, there are sex jokes, a lot of them, but along with the crude, vulgar humour, the film shows the real life struggles of people like Andy in his working environment, and everyone should learn something from that.

I had a few problems with the film though. First, the film is much longer than it needs to be. I was never bored, but two hours are a lot of time for this kind of film. There are too many scenes that are neither funny nor contribute to either the plot or character development. Also I didn't want the typical happy ending Hollywood-style, the film should have ended after the chase scene. And the racial banter wasn't needed. 

But Steve Carell is terrific as Andy, and really has the change to shine as a comedian - which was denied to him in "Bruce Almighty" -, and everything he does is cute, adorable and hilarious. Catherine Keener gives a great performance as Trish and her chemistry with Carell is great. Good support also comes from Romany Mancoy, Paul Rudd and Seth Rogen. 

If you're one of those people easily offended you might want to way far away from this one though.