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The 40-Year-Old Virgin (movie review by Roger Ebert 3.5 stars out of 4.0)
Chicago Sun Times ^ | August 19, 2005 | Roger Ebert

Posted on 08/19/2005 3:39:24 PM PDT by grundle

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050818/REVIEWS/50803002

The 40-Year-Old Virgin

BY ROGER EBERT

August 19, 2005

3.5 stars (out of 4.0)

Here's a movie that could have had the same title and been a crude sex comedy with contempt for its characters. Instead, "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" is surprisingly insightful, as buddy comedies go, and it has a good heart and a lovable hero. It's not merely that Andy Stitzer rides his bike to work, it's that he signals his turns.

Andy (Steve Carell) is indeed 40 and a virgin, after early defeats in the gender wars turned him into a non-combatant. His strategy for dealing with life is to surround himself with obsessions, including action figures, video games, high-tech equipment, and "collectibles," a word which, like "drinkable," never sounds like a glowing endorsement.

Andy is one of those guys whose life is a workaround. What he doesn't understand, he avoids, finesses or fakes. On the job at the electronics superstore where he works, his fellow employees spend a lot of time talking about women, and he nods as if he speaks the language. Then they rope him into a poker game, the conversation turns to sex, and they look at him strangely when he observes enthusiastically how women's breasts feel like bags of sand.

The buddies are wonderfully cast. David (Paul Rudd) is still hopelessly in love with a woman who has long since outgrown any possible interest in him; Jay (Romany Malco) is a ladies' man who considers himself an irresistible seducer, and Cal (Seth Rogen) is the guy with practical guidance, such as "date drunks" and "never actually say anything to a woman; just ask questions." All these guys have problems of their own, and seem prepared to pass them on to Andy as advice; listen with particular care to the definition of "aftercourse." Also at work is Paula (Jane Lynch), Andy's boss, a tall, striking woman who is definitely not a 40-year-old virgin; after asking him if he's ever heard of just being sex buddies, she promises him, "I'm discreet, and I'll haunt your dreams."

Andy would just as soon stay home and play with his action figures. But his friends consider it a sacred mission to end his 40-year drought. In a singles bar, under their coaching, he separates a tipsy babe from the crowd; his alarm should have gone off when she asks him to blow into the breathalyzer so she can start her car. In a bookstore he asks a cute sales clerk one question after another, which works charmingly until she finds out he has no answers. He goes to one of those dating round-robins where a buzzer goes off and you switch tables, giving the movie an opportunity to assemble a little anthology of pickup cliches.

And then there's Trish (Catherine Keener). She runs a store across the mall, where you can take in your stuff and she'll sell it on eBay. Andy knows right away that he really likes her, but he's paralyzed by shyness and fear, and the way she coaxes him into asking her out is written so well it could be in a more serious movie. Or maybe it is; there's an insight and understanding under the surface of "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" that is subtle, but sincere.

On the surface, the movie assembles a collection of ethnic types as varied as "Crash." It has fun with them, but it likes them, and it's gentle fun that looks for humanity, not cheap laughs. Consider the character who unexpectedly performs a Guatemalan love song, or Andy's Indian neighbors, who like to watch "Survivor" with him, although he has to bring the set. The movie approaches the subject of homosexuality without the usual gay-bashing, in a scene where the guys trade one-liners beginning "I know you're gay because" and their reasons show more insight than prejudice.

But the best reason the movie works is because Steve Carell and Catherine Keener have a rare kind of chemistry that is maybe better described as mutual sympathy. Keener is an actress at the top of her form, and to see her in "Lovely & Amazing" and "The Ballad of Jack and Rose" and then in "Virgin" is to watch an actress who starts every role with a complete understanding of the woman inside. Her task in the plot is to end Andy's virginity, but her challenge is to create a relationship we care about. We do. The character Trish is intuitively understanding, but more importantly, she actually likes this guy. Keener's inspiration is to have Trish see Andy not as a challenge, but as an opportunity.

The movie was directed by Judd Apatow, who produced "Anchorman," and written by Apatow and Carell, the "Daily Show" veteran who first developed the idea of a closeted virgin in a Second City skit. The screenplay is filled with small but perfect one-liners (as when Andy is advised to emulate David Caruso in "Jade"). At the end, for no good reason except that it strikes exactly the perfect (if completely unexpected) note, the cast performs a Bollywood version of "Age of Aquarius." By then, they could have done almost anything and I would have been smiling.


TOPICS: TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: 40yearoldvirgin; moviereview
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1 posted on 08/19/2005 3:39:24 PM PDT by grundle
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To: grundle

Ebert likes everything. his reviews mean nothing


2 posted on 08/19/2005 3:44:57 PM PDT by hattend (Alaska....in a time warp all it's own!)
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To: grundle
I'll pass.

Looks like a mockery of those who have sex after their married and using crudeness to get him to indulge.

Looks like trash to me.
3 posted on 08/19/2005 3:45:16 PM PDT by nmh (Intelligent people recognize Intelligent Design (God).)
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To: grundle

That fat leftist toad Ebert is the perfect reviewer for my movie tastes. If he loves the movie, I know that I'm going to hate it. If it's a foreign film, and someone pukes in French, Ebert has an orgasm over it.


4 posted on 08/19/2005 3:45:36 PM PDT by appleharvey
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To: grundle

For a moment there I thought your post was about a woman I knew, briefly....


5 posted on 08/19/2005 3:45:46 PM PDT by Las Vegas Dave ("Liberals out of power are comical-Liberals in power are dangerous!" - Rush quote.)
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To: nmh

Actually, the guy in the movie does wait until after he gets married.


6 posted on 08/19/2005 3:50:03 PM PDT by grundle
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To: hattend

That's not true. He hates plenty of movies. He gave 1.5 stars to The Usual Suspects.


7 posted on 08/19/2005 3:50:51 PM PDT by grundle
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To: hattend
Ebert likes everything. his reviews mean nothing

At least he gave "No stars" to the most recent Deuce Bigelow movie.

Give him time, he'll eventually sink low enough to give that kind of dreck a couple of stars.

8 posted on 08/19/2005 3:52:09 PM PDT by siunevada
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To: grundle

The guy's friends should have given him two grand and a trip to Navada.


9 posted on 08/19/2005 3:57:27 PM PDT by Paul C. Jesup
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To: siunevada; grundle

Okay, I over generalized. He likes almost everything.

Of the pair, Syskel was the one to watch. Ebert and [insert name here] has sucked since Syskel died.


10 posted on 08/19/2005 3:59:43 PM PDT by hattend (Alaska....in a time warp all it's own!)
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To: hattend
>>>Ebert likes everything. his reviews mean nothing

If Ebert like something, I generally hate it...
11 posted on 08/19/2005 3:59:53 PM PDT by Keith in Iowa (Liberals...they're so quixotic...)
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To: Keith in Iowa

You and I think alike


12 posted on 08/19/2005 4:02:09 PM PDT by hattend (Alaska....in a time warp all it's own!)
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To: hattend

I 'll wait till I can take it out for free at my local library.


13 posted on 08/19/2005 4:06:39 PM PDT by Ciexyz (Let us always remember, the Lord is in control.)
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To: grundle

"Actually, the guy in the movie does wait until after he gets married."

But of course!

That's the idea ... don't wait for anything and have a good time and the cruder the better.


14 posted on 08/19/2005 4:24:59 PM PDT by nmh (Intelligent people recognize Intelligent Design (God).)
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To: nmh
I think you misread that person's post. The character does wait.
15 posted on 08/19/2005 4:34:19 PM PDT by Borges
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To: grundle

im 23 and still a virgin,far as im concerned the peer pressure,pregnacys and STD's i can do without


16 posted on 08/19/2005 5:21:28 PM PDT by MetalHeadConservative35 (Grenades are like RAM - you can never have too much.)
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To: grundle
That's not true. He hates plenty of movies. He gave 1.5 stars to The Usual Suspects.

But he gave 2.5 stars to Gigli. He thought Lopez and Affleck were "sweet and appealing."
17 posted on 08/19/2005 5:49:10 PM PDT by rightwingintelligentsia
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To: MetalHeadConservative35

I have been sell-a-butt since becoming a widower four years ago. So far I have had difficulty finding takers. It seems like a lifetime.


18 posted on 08/19/2005 6:04:21 PM PDT by vetvetdoug (Shiloh, Corinth, Iuka, Brices Crossroads, Harrisburg, Britton Lane, Holly Springs, Hatchie Bridge,)
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To: grundle

Roger wouldn't have gotten laid or married if it hadn't been for his partnership with Russ Meyer.

I have not heard of a single encounter that Russ didn't have hand in.


19 posted on 08/20/2005 1:04:46 AM PDT by weegee (The Rovebaiting by DUAC must stop. It is nothing but a partisan witchhunt.)
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To: siunevada
His review of Deuce II was primarily about a p!$$ing contest of egos between the star and a Hollywood guy (critic?). Rog sided with the writer.

This from a critic who counts the menage a tois in Summer Lovers among his 10 guilty pleasure films.
20 posted on 08/20/2005 1:08:19 AM PDT by weegee (The Rovebaiting by DUAC must stop. It is nothing but a partisan witchhunt.)
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