Recently Seen: The 40 Year Old Virgin
Up until last week, I was a The 40 Year Old Virgin virgin. I am suitably ashamed.
The 40 YOV, a gross-out comedy in the vein of American Pie and There's Something About Mary, is directed by TV veteran Judd Apatow and stars my favourite American, Steve Carell, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Apatow.
Like the typical gross comedy, the screenplay is peppered with mentions of bodily fluids and gases and jokes about various body parts especially reproductive organs. Unlike the typical gross comedy, the movie has many genuinely tender and touching moments. Even the gross jokes are non-sophomoric.
Despite the title and the genre, the movie is not preoccupied with sex. It's not about sex, or even about a man trying to have sex. It's a buddy movie and a rather sweet one, at that. It is also a romantic comedy and a coming-of-age drama.
Steve Carell plays Andy, the titular 40 YOV. He is shy, rides a bicycle to work, collects action figures and plays computer video games. His home is probably every teenaged geek's wetdream. He is a stockist in an electronics store, where he is buddies with David, Jay and Cal. They are his cadre of cherry-popping enablers, intent on helping him relieve himself of his virginity. Hilariously, their own love-lives are either disastrous or non-starters. David (Paul Rudd) is particularly tragic, being hung up on a woman who dumped him two years ago. For me, Andy's friendships with these guys are the best thing about the movie. There is affection and warmth in their interactions, even while they are making gross jokes.
Their efforts to accomplish "Mission: V Loss" make for several classic set-pieces. There is the by-now infamous chest-hair waxing scene. It is crude and pandering to the lowest common denominator, but it is also laugh-out-loud funny. The speed-dating segment is especially memorable, with an inspired assortment of single women including a lesbian re-entering the market and David's ex, played by Carell's The Office co-star, Mindy Kaling.
The rom-com plot charmingly handled, with Catherine Keener striking all the right notes as Trish, the love interest. Trish runs a business, is confident and go-getter. She exudes a joie de vivre that could potentially overwhelm Andy but around him, she shows her vulnerability and insecurities as a single mother and a woman who has failed in relationships. Importantly, Keener and Carell have chemistry and their on-screen relationship is believable.
The movie works because Andy is likable and worth rooting for. He could so very easily have been overplayed as one of life's pathetic sad-sack losers, deserving of contempt rather than sympathy. This does not happen in the movie. Even as he stumbles from one embarrassing encounter to another, we admire him for his own brand of sweet-natured courage to pick himself up and enter the fray again. Carell pitches this performance perfectly, as does all the cast.
This is not a movie for people with low tolerance for crass and crude comedy. But for the rest of us, this is one of the funniest movies of recent years.
Rating: 8 out of 10
The 40 YOV, a gross-out comedy in the vein of American Pie and There's Something About Mary, is directed by TV veteran Judd Apatow and stars my favourite American, Steve Carell, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Apatow.
Like the typical gross comedy, the screenplay is peppered with mentions of bodily fluids and gases and jokes about various body parts especially reproductive organs. Unlike the typical gross comedy, the movie has many genuinely tender and touching moments. Even the gross jokes are non-sophomoric.
Despite the title and the genre, the movie is not preoccupied with sex. It's not about sex, or even about a man trying to have sex. It's a buddy movie and a rather sweet one, at that. It is also a romantic comedy and a coming-of-age drama.
Steve Carell plays Andy, the titular 40 YOV. He is shy, rides a bicycle to work, collects action figures and plays computer video games. His home is probably every teenaged geek's wetdream. He is a stockist in an electronics store, where he is buddies with David, Jay and Cal. They are his cadre of cherry-popping enablers, intent on helping him relieve himself of his virginity. Hilariously, their own love-lives are either disastrous or non-starters. David (Paul Rudd) is particularly tragic, being hung up on a woman who dumped him two years ago. For me, Andy's friendships with these guys are the best thing about the movie. There is affection and warmth in their interactions, even while they are making gross jokes.
Their efforts to accomplish "Mission: V Loss" make for several classic set-pieces. There is the by-now infamous chest-hair waxing scene. It is crude and pandering to the lowest common denominator, but it is also laugh-out-loud funny. The speed-dating segment is especially memorable, with an inspired assortment of single women including a lesbian re-entering the market and David's ex, played by Carell's The Office co-star, Mindy Kaling.
The rom-com plot charmingly handled, with Catherine Keener striking all the right notes as Trish, the love interest. Trish runs a business, is confident and go-getter. She exudes a joie de vivre that could potentially overwhelm Andy but around him, she shows her vulnerability and insecurities as a single mother and a woman who has failed in relationships. Importantly, Keener and Carell have chemistry and their on-screen relationship is believable.
The movie works because Andy is likable and worth rooting for. He could so very easily have been overplayed as one of life's pathetic sad-sack losers, deserving of contempt rather than sympathy. This does not happen in the movie. Even as he stumbles from one embarrassing encounter to another, we admire him for his own brand of sweet-natured courage to pick himself up and enter the fray again. Carell pitches this performance perfectly, as does all the cast.
This is not a movie for people with low tolerance for crass and crude comedy. But for the rest of us, this is one of the funniest movies of recent years.
Rating: 8 out of 10
Labels: Movie Reviews
posted by gentleice the deptfordian at 6:26 PM
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