The 40 Year-Old Virgin info & showtimes
By Daniel Fienberg, Zap2it.com
In the world of high concept movie ideas, there are a legion of unworthy contenders. Then there's "The 40 Year-Old Virgin." Rarely has a movie built around a single joke so proudly flaunted that joke in its very title. One need not see a trailer or read a synopsis of "The 40 Year-Old Virgin" to know its basic plot, the tone of most of its gags and even to guess at its resolution. The tag line -- Better Late Than Never -- is cute, but entirely redundant. Toss in a running time of just a smidge under two hours, a self-indulgent length even for more complicated concepts, and its an absolute wonder that "The 40 Year-Old Virgin" turns out to be such a good natured and often hilarious film. It shouldn't work, but thanks to writer-director Judd Apatow and, particularly, writer-star Steve Carell, it does.
Carell plays Andy, a 40 year-old man with a secret. It isn't giving away too much to reveal that Andy's secret is that he's never had sex. Andy's a bit of a dweeb, but the absence of physical lovin' in his life isn't attributable to anything grotesque or freakish. After a number of failed sexual gambits, the introverted guy just stopped trying. However, when Andy's buddies at the electronics store -- played by Seth Rogen, Paul Rudd and Romany Malco -- discover that their co-worker has never done the deed, they conspire to get him laid, whatever the cost. Complicating matters is the fact that Andy may be falling in love with Trish, a single mom with baggage of her own.
Carell has to walk a complicated and occasionally inconsistent tightrope between wildly awkward and borderline catatonic when it comes to Andy. It's one thing for the character to be uncomfortable talking about sex at a poker table, but he strays a bit too far into Forrest Gump territory when he details his exciting weekend largely spent making egg salad. Most of Andy's more stunted characteristics, are displayed up front, to establish the central joke, which allows Andy's genuine sweetness to rise to the surface as events proceed. Carell's performance is most effective when he keeps the character grounded, but audiences will probably get the biggest laughs out of the broader physical comedy bits.
