40 Year Old Virgin

40 Year Old Virgin is yet another entry in the reemergence of the R rated comedy. Perhaps the funniest film of the year 40 Year Old Virgin’s title tells it all. The film is a lewd story of 40 year old Andy Stitzer who works in an electronics store and has never had sex. Three of his co-workers take Andy on as a fixer-upper and try to teach him how to get a girl. At the same time he meets a mother of two with whom Andy may really have a chance at a relationship. Thus Andy is torn between bar hopping to gain experience he doesn’t have and hanging out quietly in a serious relationship he may not be ready for.

There has been a lot of talk this year about how bad the movies are doing and how no one is going to see these films. The real problem here is the dumbing down of the material that has been presented to the audience this summer. Anyone who has seen even the preview of Stealth knew that the film was going to be a major disaster. The actors seemed wooden, the dialogue was inane, and the concept of three fighter pilots taking on a rogue computerized plane gizmo was terribly lame.

But here writer/director Judd Apatow and Steve Carell have created a low budget film where four characters sit and talk and hang out and they have made it interesting. How? It’s called writing. Anyone who has watched Judd Apatow’s series Freaks and Geeks knows that good writing may not make a show a ratings hit, but it makes for wonderfully engrossing entertainment.

The film is mainly about these four guys hanging out in various places and talking about women. There is no big gimmick here and so the film has to stand on the characters and the performances of its four leading men. Here Carell, formerly of The Daily Show, is able to go beyond his roles in Anchorman and Bruce Almighty and showcase his likeability and his comic timing. Carell’s Andy lives in an apartment surrounded by hermetically sealed Universal monsters and other various geeky characters in their pristine boxes. Andy likewise is still in pristine condition and it is this unfortunate situation that draws the compassion of three otherwise useless men that Andy works with.

The four friends are of differing temperaments and backgrounds though each provides an interesting perspective on Andy’s dilemma and how to solve it. Cal, Seth Rogan, works with Andy in the stock room. Cal is a dirty minded man whose goal in life is a good party and a lot of fun. Seth Rogan, also of Freaks and Geeks fame, plays Cal with relish reminding me greatly of his character Ken from Freaks and Geeks with his deadpan humor and bearish but kindly streak. His theory is that Andy has been missing out and needs to get out there and get some action before he can move on with any part of his life. Paul Rudd is David, a broken hearted floor clerk who has been stalking an ex-girlfriend for two years. He is the only one who seems to have Andy’s interests at heart when he advises him to seek out love and go at his own speed. Of course he also does this with some questionable adult material and one of the funniest lines in the film, especially, apparently, if you are a male. Jay, Romany Malco, is the free wheeling fast talking salesman who spends half of his time talking about his amazing girlfriend and the rest of the time chasing tale and objectifying the rest of womankind. He approaches Andy’s issues as one of not getting out into circulation enough, that Andy has some credibility, that should allow him to have the meaningless sort of relationships that Jay himself is constantly is seeking.

The crux of the plot is that though Andy may have the least experience of the four, he is by far the most desirable. Andy is a nice respectful guy without the hang-ups and fetishes and issues and baggage of the others. They think nothing of sending Andy to take a drunken woman home from a bar and take advantage of her. Nor do they shun most other lewd behavior one could think of. What they do fear is Andy finding a real relationship and a real commitment with a mother of two Trish played with nicety by Catherine Keener. Why are they afraid? Because of their own shortcomings and inability to commit.

The much ballyhooed scene of Andy getting waxed is a big on the unnecessary side. But knowing that the waxing was actually performed, and that the pain and fear in Carell’s eyes is real, makes the segment somehow more meaningful and interesting. It is certainly a long way to go for a character on camera and Carell rewards the audience by providing this kind of authenticity throughout the film. The net of this is that the audience cheers for Andy and his travails and hopes, not only that he gets laid, but that he can find a more meaningful existence than the ones his friends are living.

Though filled with crude, and often frank, sexual conversation and numerous innuendos the film is witty and far more complex than other gross out comedies of a similar ilk. 40 Year Old Virgin has all the heart to be a chick flick but this is a guy’s world. This film explores the after hours world of men who sit around and talk about women, and sex, and money just like the girls, but without the estrogen and nagging mothers. The summer comedies needed a solid but raunchy entry to liven things up a bit. Between Wedding Crashers and 40 Year Old Virgin the R rated comedy is back in full force due entirely to more careful scripts and less urbane writing. Apatow and Carell are able to craft a wise and kind story about a man whose life has been less than a thrill ride but is a ribald pleasure to watch.