Prepare to be touched...
 Dec 1st, 2005
Advantages:
Extremely funny and quite romantic
Disadvantages:
Might be a bit risqué for some
Recommendable:
Yes
Detailed rating:
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Story
Characters / Performances
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About me:
Who'd have thought university would be so time-consuming!
Member since:19.06.2005
Reviews:131
Members who trust:90
Review rated by 50 Ciao members on average: very helpful 
No matter how hard I try to broaden my horizons, I keep coming back to film reviews don't I? I decided to review this film after seeing it a few months ago, just because I was so impressed with it. But sadly, after I'd written it, I found out Ciao didn't have it on their list of products, so I had to wait until now to publish it. This film was very rare in that it made me laugh even in the trailer, which hardly ever happens. As soon as I saw the adverts, I immediately thought it looked like my sort of film and headed out to watch it. I am of course talking about The 40-year old Virgin, the first leading movie role for Steve Carrell. After appearing in the not-very-good Office: an American Workplace and the frankly terrible Bewitched, and featuring in Anchorman and Bruce Almighty a few years ago, this brilliant comic talent finally gets his own film. He also helped produce it and co-wrote the screenplay, which shows he has more talents than just in front of the camera.
The story tells of Andy, who is a forty year old virgin, as the title suggests.
How funny! He lives at home by himself with a collection of comic book models, rides to work on a bicycle, and is stuck in a dead-end job with no aspirations. When his friends discover that he has never had sex, they try to solve his problem by taking him out and showing him a good time. Needless to say, Andy is not too happy at first, leading to all manner of hysterical situations, before he obviously but heart-warmingly falls in love with the single mother from the store next door. Will he ever fit in and be popular, will he ever grow up and get rid of his toys, and most importantly, will he ever have sex? That's what the audience wants to know. To be honest, this is pretty basic stuff. Don't be surprised to find lots of gags about sex, some rather rude set pieces and moments that are not for the squeamish! However, it's more than your average gross-out bonanza, and it's all handled with a lot of warmth and sensitivity. The central story of romance is fairly predictable but it definitely makes you feel all warm inside when you've left. There are loads of excellent set pieces, the funniest of which is when Andy has his chest waxed. Although being painful to watch, you absolutely can't stop laughing! There are also funny moments when he and his friends go speed dating, when he gets given a box of porn videos, and when he can't work out how to use a condom. It's not by any means subtle humour, but there are plenty of one-liners and visual gags to keep you entertained at all times.
The acting isn't really important in a comedy such as this, but Steve Carrell does make a completely likeable, dorky hero, and plays him quite realistically. He wasn't funny at all in Bewitched, which showed that not even great comedians can do anything with an awful script, but in this he is just right and delivers lots of laughs. His co-stars are also fine, despite there being nobody else I knew. Catherine Keener plays the object of his affections, Trish, and Paul Rudd appears as his friend David. There isn't really much else you can say about a film like this. It's very funny. That's all it needs to be, and that's basically all it is. It's the funniest film I've seen all year in fact, but then again it's only really up against Wedding Crashers and Bewitched, so it's not hard. Not that Wedding Crasher was bad, just not as good as this. And Bewitched was never in the running… Oh and one final thing: the ending, without giving anything away, is really funny. They all start singing and dancing around like hippies, which is quite unusual and imaginative. It's that song from the car advert; "this is the dawning of the age of Aquarius" or something like that. Extremely funny!
So, to sum up, this is a really funny film that I would definitely recommend. It's not as trashy or crude as it sounds!
________________________________________ The DVD of The Forty-Year Old Virgin is available from www.sendit.com for £11.99. I don't know what the extras are like.
Starring: Steve Carrell, Catherine Keener, Paul Rudd, Romany Malco, Seth Rogan
Directed by: Judd Apatow
Running time: 116 minutes
Classification: 15 for strong sexual references (surprise, surprise)
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![40 Year Old Virgin (XXL Version) [DVD] [2005]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78513583.jpg)
![The 40 Year Old Virgin [HD DVD] [2005]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/77954054.jpg)
by (2%):
by (8%):
24.02.2006 21:57
Again, you've got this film down to a T, as you said 'it's more than your average gross-out bonanza' and this makes a change from so many comedies of the last few years.
20.02.2006 22:39
Sounds like a great film, will have to get round to watchin it! x x
05.02.2006 20:08
I really enjoyd it, but liked Wedding Crashers more... x