You Want To Know How I Know You're Into This Movie? (The 40 Year Old Virgin)

40-Year-Old Virgin has a way of appealing to, what might seem to be, a rather vast audience. The cast includes the broken-hearted and forlorn, Paul Rudd, the scheming Seth Rogan, the guy who talks a big game, Romany Malco...and then there is the seemingly awkward wallflower, played by Steve Carrell. The jokes also seem to range from the rather raunchy to quick and witty. The buddy comedy focused on sex isn't a buddy comedy focused on sex. It is, perhaps, the opposite.

I remember hearing about this movie and being very excited. For years, I'd watched Carrell and Stephen Colbert verbally spar on The Daily Show. To top that, Alicia and I were huge fans of Judd Apatow's Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared - and being that he was co writer and director of this, it seemed like something we'd really be into. The script by Apatow and Carrell was no disappointment. Though there was a healthy dose of crude and sexual jokes, the script is surprisingly full of heart. I think that I can honestly say that I have never have watched a movie rooting for the hero to have sex, but this movie pulls it off...

I could, potentially, watch Paul Rudd in anything...and, lucky for me, he is in everything. This movie was one of the first of many comedies he would star in. I enjoyed watching the cast just interact...what appeared to be improvisation or just random verbal sparring, the cast clicked.


Alicia hit on something very special about this movie and other Apatow projects. Though the dialogue feels loose, the script feels tight. Apatow knows what he wants and directs from the school of Larry David. In any given scene, the script feels as though the actors know what they're supposed to do as they go into any given take - but their improvisational skills turn each scene into gold. So Andy (Steve Carrell) has turned into a hermit that goes from his neat breakfast to his safe job and back to his action figures, models and G.I. Joe dolls. It's obvious that Andy isn't as afraid of having a sexual relationship as he is about getting close to anyone that could hurt him or embarrass him. Yet the desire to be accepted and respected gives him enough courage to join the guys for a night of poker - in which he's pressured into confessing that he's still a virgin - and 40 years old.

Throughout most of the movie, Andy is ashamed about his virgin status. He feels embarrassed when talking with his friends over a poker game. He doesn't want to reveal the truth to his girlfriend, Trish, played by Catherine Keener. The movie is also about Andy coming to terms with his reality and, in turn, being okay with it. The story includes a message, of some sort, about differing from the norm and embracing that. This theme takes the audience through Andy's metamorphosis into being happy with who he is despite what others may say.

I think that's what makes this movie so fun. It's a teen-aged sex comedy with heart - but a group of middle-aged adolescents. This is a movie that I've watched multiple times and would recommend owning. Not only is it fun multiple times, but the jokes just don't get old. A few times they go overboard, but it's never too far. For those that are middle-aged, it takes you back to a time when you struggled with all the things Andy did, and for those of you that are young - well you surely must chuckle because you can relate.