‘The 40-Year-Old Virgin’ marks its 20th anniversary
This is a reprint of my review that ran in The Patriot Ledger in 2005.
Pairing one of the funniest men on TV in Steve Carell and one of TV’s best producers in Judd Apatow, ‘‘The 40-Year-Old Virgin” seemed like a can’t-miss proposition. Miss, though, it does – by a country mile.
Shockingly unfunny and occasionally vulgar, ‘‘40” isn’t like a virgin; it’s more like a pathetic old streetwalker. Almost everything about it reeks of desperation, from the shallow characters to the crass jokes (that R-rating is pretty lenient) rooted in racism, misogyny and homophobia; faults it tries to gloss over with a cutesy ending that just doesn’t jive with the offensiveness that preceded it.
Somehow, Carell, the deadpan funnyman from ‘‘The Daily Show” as well as the ridiculously under-watched ‘‘The Office,” manages to escape unscathed despite suffering every humiliation known to a virginal man. He plays Andy, a geek’s geek who, when he’s not slaving in virtual anonymity in the stockroom of a second-rate electronics store, is collecting superhero action figures or playing computer games. And as you may have guessed from the title, Andy has a little problem, which his Neanderthal co-workers – a collection of unlikable losers played by Paul Rudd, Seth Rogen and Romany Malco – ineptly try to alleviate.
Co-written by Carell and Apatow (creator of ‘‘The Larry Sanders Show,” ‘‘Freaks and Geeks” and ‘‘Undeclared,” three of the best series ever), ‘‘Virgin” is so far beneath both men that you’re constantly wondering what they were thinking. It certainly wasn’t comedy, because there’s barely a laugh. I mean, how often can you tell the same joke?
The lack of guffaws isn’t nearly as disappointing, though, as the woeful lack of character development, usually one of Apatow’s strengths. But then there’s not much character among a collection of ding miscreants that Carell and Apatow use to bash women and Asia (the rock group, not the continent).
Apatow’s eagerness to appease the lowest common denominator certainly has won him favor with most critics, many of whom have dared to favorably compare ‘‘Virgin” to this summer’s megahit, ‘‘The Wedding Crashers.” In their dreams! It’s more like the Farrelly brothers on their clumsiest day.
Worse, “Virgin” is bloated beyond reason, as Apatow, making his directorial debut, proves repeatedly that he knows nothing about pacing and continuity, evidenced by the film’s disjointed episodic structure. What is this: a movie, or ‘‘Mad TV?” Speaking of which, Mo Collins, the funniest person on that show, pops in here as a ‘‘recovering” lesbian looking for action at a speed-dating event. She might have been the classiest thing in the movie, too, if not for Catherine Keener as the hot grandma (yes, you read correctly), who just might be the cure for Andy’s affliction.
Unfortunately, she’s barely in the movie; forced to the sidelines so Apatow can parade a harem of bimbos (including Elizabeth Banks and Apatow’s wife, Leslie Mann) to distract Andy long enough to stretch a half-hour story into a two-hour movie. Thank goodness, the eminently likable Carell is around to keep audiences from being bored out of their skulls. While not as funny this go-round as he was in ‘‘Bruce Almighty” or ‘‘Anchorman,” Carell still has a presence that keeps you riveted even when he’s doing nothing. Which, coincidentally, is what he does (or should I say that he doesn’t do) for much of the movie.
The only time he – and it – fly are the handful of sweet scenes he shares opposite Keener as Trish, a single mother of three who supports her family by auctioning other people’s junk on eBay. Perhaps Apatow should give Trish a call to onload his clunker movie.
Movie review
The 40-Year-Old Virgin
Rated: R for sexual situations, language
Cast: Steve Carell, Catherine Keener, Paul Rudd, Romany Malco, Seth Rogen, Leslie Mann, Elizabeth Banks and Mo Collins.
Director: Judd Apatow
Writers: Judd Apatow and Steve Carell
Runtime: 116 minutes
Where: Back in theaters Aug. 22 for a one-week run
Grade: C
