THE 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN
http://www.the40yearoldvirgin.com/
Directed by: Judd Apatow
Written by: Judd Apatow and Steve Carell
With: Steve Carell, Catherine Keener, Paul Rudd, Romany Malco and Seth Rogen
Rating:***
"It is better to copulate then never," as once said by one of my literary heroes, Lazarus Long.
And in The 40 Year Old Virgin, Steve Carell proves that point with little trouble. He and the other four male leads play co-workers at a stereo and electronics store. During a late night poker game, it is discovered that Andy (Carell) is actually a 40-year-old virgin and our three stalwart heroes set out to help him lose that horrid stigma.
It is not that Andy does not like girls; he is just uncomfortable around them and has had a lot of bad luck. Like the girl who tried to suck his toe and wound up with a broken nose. Little things like that.
Our four guys are made
up of a fairly decent cross-section of American male as seen through the eyes
of Hollywood. One is the depressed guy who broke up with his girl friend two
years ago and is still obsessing over her. The other is a stoner who is more
interested in pot and bongs then much else. Our token black dude is a womanizing
cheater who feels that he is doing his relationship some good. And finally,
there is Andy. The everyman, the guy a lot of us are inside and the guy almost
all of us was inside and outside at one time.
But, the four guys work together like a long time team, with the right amount of banter, almost perfect timing, and a style that is hard to find in a lot of team-up films with this large a working group. So what we wind up with is a film with a bunch of good laughs but not a lot of laugh out loud Yee-haws. Which is good, as it gives the audience time between the funny stuff to catch a breather and be ready for whatever is happening next.
Andy Stitzer is just your average guy, a bit dorky yes. I mean, he has this massive collection of 'Action figures' and his apartment is basically a playing ground for video games. He even has one of those chairs that you sit in with the speakers, joysticks and controllers so you can be real comfortable while playing "Alien Shoot To Kill" or whatever game is in the machine at the time. He does not drive but rides a bicycle with no two big rear view mirrors. This does not always help, since he seems to wind up hitting more stuff in front then being hit in back as he rides.
His idea of an exciting weekend is spending over three hours making an egg salad sandwich, which he didn't eat since he was out of bread. And while he is somewhat embarrassed that he has never had sex he seems to have come to terms with it. Andy's friends try to help him out by introducing him to a line of women, teaching him how to talk to them, "Just ask questions. Nothing else, just ask questions;" which actually seems to work. Remind me to try this if I am ever visiting a town that Patti is not in, has no friends and will never visit.
It seems that their main strategy is for him to date some of the skankiest women in town. Once he has a good number of 'conquests' under his belt [ahem] then he can be ready for dating a 'nice' woman. They try to get him to dress different, act different and even remove some chest hair. And this scene is funny as heck. Why?
Because it is real; Carell
told the director (Judd Apatow) to really do a waxing on him. That it would
not be as funny if it was just a 'special effect'. I tend to agree as I think
waxing is insane and it is always funny to watch someone be tortured… uhm…
be placed in a situation they never expected.
But, it is only when Andy meets Trish (Keener) that he finally begins to
understand exactly why sex is truly important and why love will always be
better then just getting laid. 
The ending is great, with a perfect way to send off the credits with the cast. The 40 Year Old Virgin probably won't win many awards for taste but it is fun for adults and OLDER teens.
Bear in mind, it is rated R for a reason, with lots of sexual references, drug use and rough language.
Now speaking of language, I am getting tired of certain words in our language. When I was a kid, being called a "Ho" or a "B$t$h" was not a compliment. Today it seems that unless you are calling a woman that she thinks you don't care about her.
I remember one time Terry Wayne getting his nose busted by a woman he called a "B$t$h" while they were intimate. She just stopped what she was doing, reached over to the lamp and smashed it into his face. But it seems like more and more films, singers, books and even TV shows are using these words, just tossing them out like they don't mean anything.
I'm sorry, but calling a woman a "ho" or a "B$t$h" is totally disrespectful. It shows a lack of character in the male and a lack of self-esteem in the woman if she allows him to do it. Now, if you are a woman and you want to be called names during certain moments go for it. Let your partner know, but allowing him to disrespect you in public sends a bad message to younger people.
It tells little boys that calling women names is acceptable and it tells little girls that they are not worth anything anyway, so it is fine to call them these names.
There is no reason for terms such as this in public. Not in films and certainly not in discussions with others. And yes, I have seen it in public. I have seen males at the theater refer to their partner as "B$t$h" when telling them they didn't get enough butter on the popcorn, or that they forgot napkins. And the woman just takes it.
Men, grow up. Show some respect for women and maybe they will respect you.
Women, stand up for yourself. Show some respect in who you are and start dating men who will do the same.
LArry Stanley, Editor PCU
larrystanley@penguincomics.net
