Review

Review Date: 21-August-05
Spoiler Rating: Low
Juju Judgment: Juicy

The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005)

If you ever met a creature as disquieting as a 40-year-old virgin, chances are you would want him to be like Andy Stitzer (Steve Carell), the protagonist of this movie. Equal parts nerd, gentleman, and babe in the woods, Andy isn't so much a freak as someone who just doesn't behave like other men. He lives quietly. He's uncomfortable with crudeness. He eschews machismo and predation. And he's never had sex.

"The 40-Year-Old Virgin" isn't exactly guarded about its hero's dirty secret, but what's surprising is how affectionately it deals with him and his group of (much randier) friends. During a late-night poker game at the electronics store where they work, Andy inadvertently sets the ball rolling by exposing his shame to some younger colleagues. Although each epitomizes a different type of modern masculinity — the black player (Romany Malco), the jaded romantic (Paul Rudd), the genial hedonist (Seth Rogen) — these fellows immediately unite in charitable concern by dragging Andy to singles bars, speed-dating luncheons, and other urban safaris and subjecting him to all manner of easy women who might show him a good time. In preparation for the big event, they also take him to get his chest waxed (in an uproarious, squirm-inducing scene), ply him with pickup advice (usually in the form of mixed messages), and try to educate him with porn (which he finds distasteful despite lighting lots of candles). Every one of these guys is a hoot in his own way, and they work well together to highlight both the lovable follies of the average Joe and the even more lovable idiosyncrasies that set Andy apart.

(By the way, not all of these idiosyncrasies are dorky, even ones that are played for laughs. I think it's cool that Andy gets around by bike instead of car, and c'mon, Asia rocks! The Oscar Goldman action figure, however ....)

The movie loses some of its charm when it flirts with romantic comedy, as happens whenever Andy stumbles toward love with a pretty divorcée (Catherine Keener) who's both attracted and confused by his ingenuousness. The ending, in fact, is inexplicably dumb; why throw a bone to the Christian Coalition after you've spent two hours joking about pussy and giant erections? But this is only the last eight minutes. Before that, "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" is a good-natured romp that combines bawdy humor and social satire with an unusual, and unusually attractive, character. (Carell, who also co-wrote, deserves full credit for this latter asset.) "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" may be the best time one can have positively not getting laid.

Copyright © 2005 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.