40 Year Old Virgin

Greg — Mon, 24 Apr 2006 06:40:37 +0000

Is it a comedy or a horror?

Since it’s nearing finals time for all you college students out there, I figured I’d help you out and give you a short exam for practice. Ready?

How old is the main character in The 40 Year Old Virgin?
What do you think the story revolves around in The 40 Year Old Virgin?

Did you get both of those right? I hope so because if you didn’t, then you are officially the dumbest person alive. The 40 Year Old Virgin centers around a 40 year old virgin named Andy. You get to follow him on his quest to get laid. Andy works as a stock room manager in an electronics store. Andy isn’t a normal 40 year old though. In fact, Andy is a 40 year old teenager. His home is stuffed to the brink with video games, high-end electronics, collectable toys (Is that the Six Million Dollar Man’s Boss?) and comics. The one thing Andy doesn’t have in common with the average teenager is that he pretty much never thinks about sex. That doesn’t stop him from waking up every morning with a boner problem.

Plot

The story picks up after you get the idea of what Andy’s life is like. Andy’s co-workers are desperately trying to find someone to fill their poker game and decide to ask Andy. Maybe not the best idea since they think he is a serial killer. During the poker game, Andy divulges is little secret while trying to tell a raunchy sex story. His co-workers, who consider themselves all to be ladies men, decide to help Andy fix his little problem. The advice Andy receives is pretty much the same advice every guy gives to a buddy who is trying to get out of a slump. Tackle drunk girls. To complicate things, Andy meets and falls in love with Trish, a divorcee who runs a nearby shop.

Steve Carrell (The Daily Show, Anchorman, and Bruce Almighty), who co-wrote the story, pulls off the character brilliantly. He’s a smart ass and a geek. He’s a hero and a loser. The parts of his co-workers, which include Paul Rudd and Seth Rogan, are also very relatable. It seems possible, but still unlikely, that a separate comedy could be based on each of these parts. Paul Rudd plays David, a guy so obsessed with his ex-girlfriend from two years ago that he is nearly stalking her. Cal, played by Seth Rogan, is a hedonistic jewish guy constantly looking for one night stands.

Audio Visual

Not much to say here really. Its not like there are a bunch of explosions that fill up the entire screen. Overall, the movie is pretty clean and the color quality is pretty good. The movie featured good detail and was consistently crisp. The sound is also very clean. However, this is a comedy, meaning it is dialogue-driven. There are a few times the movie features surround-sound music and sound effects, but alas, this is not an action movie.

DVD Extras

Pretty standard stuff here. You got the feature-length commentary which includes practically everyone in the movie. There are ten people in this commentary. It includes the director Judd Apatow, Steve Carrell, Seth Rogan, Paul Rudd, and many other people that could be called the main cast. There are six deleted scenes. In my opinion, most of these could have been included in the film, but, considering that the movie is already on the long side for comedies, it was probably a good choice to leave them out. All of the deleted scenes also have a commentary, by Apatow and Rogan. There are also five extended scenes which are basically improvisations by the actors. Also included is a three and a half-minute featurette on the waxing scene. It breaks down the multiple angles and basically shows all the work that went into getting that scene right the first and only time they had to shoot it.

The Last Word