The 40 Year Old Virgin

The 40 Year Old Virgin; comedy, USA, 2005; D: Judd Apatow, S: Steve Carell, Catherine Keener, Paul Rudd, Romany Malco, Seth Rogen, Elizabeth Banks, Leslie Mann

Andy is an avarage 40-year old guy who has a great job in an electronic store, good friends, wonderful home, but has one problem - he is still a virgin! When his friends find that out, they decide to help him finally find a woman by arranging him dates. Eventually, he meets the single mother Trish and starts dating her. Even though her teenage daughter doesn't like him very much, he gains symapthies of the family. When he is about to finally sleep with Trish, they start an argument and he leaves her. Just when he is about to sleep with a woman he found randomly, he comes to his senses and marries Trish. On their honeymoon they finally have intercourse.

"The 40 Year Old Virgin" is an unusual and daring comedy with a refreshing concept, yet it didn't manage to fill out any other standard than solid. As the title already says, the story inevitably revolves around intercourse and thus one has to have an open mind if one wants to watch it, but the authors resort to cheap humor of an moronic comedy simply too often for comfort: granted, humor can turn low once in a while, but does it really have to go so low to show such scenes like dogs humping, a drunk woman throwing up on the hero Andy in her car, Andy ejaculating when going to the toilet, characters swearing in a "cute way" or a woman not noticing her nipple is peaking out of her cleavage during speed date just to illustrate the strange situation the hero found himself in? Having his friends act in a primitve way and indulging in anticuture mentality typical for a mainstream film for the wider audience doesn't help either. Even though only moderately funny, "Virgin" is still an interesting film with a few good gags, and even though there are too many 'plot devices' that just delay the intercourse between Trish and Andy, the finale is all right and gives a neat, albeit unusual portray of the resolution of the tangle. Steve Carell is excellent. For a throw away, light comedy, the film serves it's purpose, but one inevitably wonders how the whole story would have turned out if it was done in a subtle and sophisticated way.

Grade:+