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The 40 Year-Old Virgin August 21, 2005 |
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Some movie titles are meant to be profound, little puzzles filled with the possibilities of metaphors and symbolism, while others are put together simply to state facts about who, or what the movie is about. I like the former, but there’s nothing wrong with the simplicity of the latter, and such is the case with the new comedy “The 40 Year-Old Virgin”, there is no metaphor in that title, nothing about a 40 years drought in an obscure desert, but a drought of a different kind, for the film’s hero is exactly as you’d expect from the film’s moniker, a middle aged man whose time in the garden of Eden has just never come, and the way things are set in their ways, never will. If you think of the simplicity of the title, than you’d be correct to also think that first time director Judd Apatow’s film has a one-joke premise, and indeed, the first 40 minutes or so plays on that one joke for all it’s worth, but then slowly, amongst the repetitive, and very dirty, sexual humor, there begins to form a kind of sweetness, a romantic kindness towards the shy titular character and his sometimes pathetic attempts at romance that is quite charming, and entirely hilarious. Apatow’s film goes through the motions you’d figure a film with that title would go through, and puts the hero through the ringer of embarrassment and awkward situations such a loner would be put through when his co-workers take it upon themselves to rectify his losing streak, but he, and the film, come out of it with only slight bruises, and for that pain, the audience is rewarded the spoils. Steve Carell, newly anointed leading man status, despite the low ratings for his very funny NBC show “The Office”, stars as Andy Stitzer, a nice and happy man who lives in a neat one bedroom apartment with his priceless collection of action figures and video games, and who rides a bicycle to his job as a layaway clerk at a large electronics store, a simple job for a man who has few complaints with life. He loves his toys, his games, his weekly “Survivor” night with the old married couple upstairs, and doesn’t put too much stress on the fact that he’s never had sex, something his three sexually charged co-workers find baffling when it comes out while playing a friendly game of poker. The dirty jokes of the poker game, in which the three co-workers each tell a tale of sexual conquest, one filthier than the last, leads to Andy’s fumbling and bumbling monologue about his sexual past, a bad bluff that the other guys quickly jump on. “Those guys are cool, they won’t remember,” worries Andy after the game, followed by a sleepless night and the realization in the morning, “oh, this is going to be bad.” Indeed, the bulk of the movie’s first half involves the group taking pour Andy out to various spots to sharpen his skills, and get over the hump, which include a riotous attempt at seducing a painfully drunk party girl, a botched attempt with a hooker (“hiring a transvestite prostitute is not going to help me”), an awkward lothario pick-up of a sexy book store clerk (Elizabeth Banks), a painfully funny, yet overlong sequences of chest waxing, and a laugh-out-loud montage of bad mini-dates at a speed dating party. All of this is littered with explicit sexual humor, fully befitting the film’s lenient R-rating (the lack of nudity saves it from an NC-17), but never is the humor spiteful or hurtful, instead the comedy stems from the school of grown-up frat boys who refuse to grow up, guys that know what strong friendship means, and know when playful ribbing goes too far. The three friends, played by Paul Rudd, Seth Rogan, and Romany Malco, start out with the impression that Andy is some kind of loser, but during the course of their quest, their outlook turns from pity to friendship, and his own philosophies on why he’s so bad with women invariably begins to change their own demeanors. It’s a primordial study of influence, within a ribald but not tasteless sex comedy. Director Apatow is familiar with the awkward nature of shyness and mating from his past TV creations, the high school cult classic “Freaks and Geeks”, and the one-year college comedy “Undeclared”, two shows that never found much of an audience, or network support, but are now on DVD, and he and co-writer Carell seem to know enough about the passivity of lonely yet content men to make Andy a sympathetic comedic figure. The frankness of the three co-workers’ sexual humor is offset with the introduction of the film’s main love interest, Trish, a single mother of three played by the always lovely and charming Catherine Keener, who sets about to take it slow, a major relief to the wildly inexperienced Andy, who somehow neglects to inform her of his virginity, thus causing major problems down the line. Much like “Wedding Crashers”, “The 40 Year-Old Virgin” levels out the bawdy comedy, which admittedly is usually hilarious, but sometimes, like the chest-waxing scene, uneven, with a sweet, realistic, and heart-warming romantic subplot that never compromises the ethics, or lack thereof, of the film’s comedic goals. The movie is loaded with ironic jokes and references; everything from “Maid in Manhattan” and “The Six Million Dollar Man”, to David Caruso, “Baby Geniuses”, Jack Palance, “Liar, Liar”, Matt Damon, Mentos, and Aquaman, and the smarmy, blatantly obscure references are hit-or-miss (the Jack Palance line is gold though), as if the writers were purposefully trying to be too clever and obscure for their own good. But then again, there is nothing wrong with clever writing, delivered with impeccable timing by a talented cast, in a film that seemed like a one note premise, but turned out to be a sweetly memorable original. “The 40 Year-Old Virgin” is playing at the Movie-Plex 59. by Adam Suraf
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