Image Courtesy of Amazon.com
Director :
Judd Apatow
Cast :
Steve Carell……….Andy Stitzer
Catherine Keener……….Trish
Paul Rudd……….David
Romany Malco……….Jay
Seth Rogen……….Cal
Elizabeth Banks……….Beth
The Movie
Timing is everything in movies, it seems. A month after the inferior Wedding Crashers came out and scored $200 million at the box office, the best comedy of the year came out to gross a little more than half of it. And while The 40-Year-Old Virgin didn’t make nearly as much as Wedding Crashers did, unfortunately, it cemented Steve Carrell into the spotlight he so richly deserves in one of the best films of the year.
Carell stars as Andy Stitzer, an electronics store employee unlucky in love over the years. His attempts at love, or even lust, haven’t ended as well as he would have wanted. Now this isn’t a big deal to Andy, a nice guy who has given up on all things involving romantic love or sexual gratification. Love isn’t in the cards for him, or so he thinks, and he’s fine with it. It’s a sad truth about his life until his friends find out over a game of poker after work.
David (Paul Rudd), Jay (Romany Malco), and Cal (Seth Rogen) find out his little secret and make it their mission to have Andy learn of the carnal arts. After suitable humiliation on Andy’s part, two suitable candidates come around: Beth (Elizabeth Banks) and Trish (Catherine Keener). Trish is the owner of a local shop, and is the type Andy should be going after as she is thoughtful, intelligent and settled down. Beth is the one who would be ideal for losing his virginity to.
Andy’s burgeoning relationship with Trish is interrupted by his insecurities about himself; sealing this deal, which he seems to be almost forced into, has two different contexts. He wants to know the touch of a woman but he wants it on his terms, not everyone else’s. And that’s what is the heart of The 40-Year-Old Virgin is a man’s attempts at moving out of his own shell and his comfort zone and into being a more complete person. It’s also filled with lots of insanely funny and tasteless humor, making it all the better. Credit Judd Apatow for not focusing on the sex jokes and focusing on his characters.
There are plenty of tasteless jokes, obscenities, homophobic commentary and the sort of humor that panders to the lowest common denominator, but at the same time the humor is secondary to the quality story being told. With a strong performance from the supporting cast, which features many of Carell’s friends from the Will Ferrell side of the Frat Pack, it’s a well-crafted story that goes from good to great because of its lead.
Andy’s affliction isn’t something that defines him; it’s a characteristic of an otherwise genuinely likeable guy. He’s a nice guy who’s been unlucky and has given up. It’s identifiable and easy to relate to. He also grows and evolves as he moves from being the guy he feels he should be to the guy we want him to be; it’s gradual and takes a lot of acting presence. Carell shows the sort of range that can take this entire sort of nuanced character development, buoyed on all sides with all sorts of crass sex jokes that could take away a lot from the story, and fashion a vivid character out of it all.
The new DVD version of the film contains 17 additional minutes cut from the original and reinserted into the film. Whereas the new special edition of Sin City has its bulk of new material in new credits, there’s plenty of new material inserted as well. It’s interesting as to where they insert the new material; there aren’t any entirely new scenes, its little additions here and there to some scenes and whole extensions of others. It’s still the same great movie; it just has some more funny to it.
Theatrical Version : 9.5 / 10
Unrated DVD Version : 10 / 10
The Video
Presented in a widescreen format with a 1.85:1 aspect ratio, The Forty-Year-Old Virgin looks great as this is a great transfer. There are a lot of subtleties with the colors that come through vividly.
The Audio
Presented in a Dolby Digital format, the film sounds great. It doesn’t
The Extras
Deleted Scenes are seven cut scenes from the film and presented in finished format. There’s some real comic gems hidden in the deleted scenes, as they were cut for a variety of reason according to the commentary by Judd Apatow and Seth Rogen.
You Know How I Know You’re Gay? is one of the funnier moments in the movie. Presented in a six minute sequences, it also comes with commentary by Apatow and Rogen.
Extended Scenes are included as Cal & Paula, Advice from Mooj and Date-A-Palooza, Andy’s Fantasies
are all extended sequences as well and come complete with a commentary by Apatow and Rogen.
Waxing Doc is a three minute documentary about the waxing scene with Carell leading the way in talking about it. It’s quite impressive to see the footage being shot, as Carell’s chest hair being ripped out is amusing as well as seeing how Apatow directs as well is pretty interesting as well.
Line-O-Rama is a collection of altered line readings for different scenes. There are some absolute gems from the cast as some of the alternative takes are insanely hilarious. All told, there’s six minutes of footage.
My Dinner with Stormy is a date between Seth Rogen and adult film star Stormy Daniels. It’s a two minute feature with Daniels being overly amorous towards Rogen.
Gag Reel is a four and a half minute feature of flubbed lines and such.
Feature Commentary with Judd Apatow and Steve Carell
Score : 8.5 / 10
