Raunchy adult entertainment. Cruel but refined.

Rating: Null/10 (13 December 2006)

No matter what, there's no denying this film is funny, even hysterically funny at times. Steve Carrell is perfect in the title role as the sweet-natured and reclusive Andy Stitzer, a 40-year old virgin, who works in an electronic store, lives alone in a nice apartment between his hand-painted model soldiers and vintage action figures (in the original packaging, never opened), never goes out on weekends, never meets any women, and never had sex. Everything seems fine and Andy is content with his lonely no-friends, no-women existence, until one day, during some trash talking about women with his randy colleagues at the electronic store (Paul Rudd, Romany Malco and Seth Rogen), he describes a woman's breasts like 'a bag of sand', and exposes himself as a virgin. Soon, they all engage on a series of well-meant and hilarious trials to get Andy laid, like speed-dating, waxing his chest (Carrel did it for real), and teaching him the fine art of the dating game and the pick-up line. But then he meets Trish (a glorious Catherine Keener), a 40-year old single mom with three children, who works across the street of the electronics store, selling people's stuff at Ebay (???), Andy not only goes for nooky, he also wants a lasting meaningful relationship with this woman.
Steve Carrell touches just the right note here while he manages to get himself in a string of extremely embarrassing situations, and it's admirable how he can play this kind of straight guy loser with a golden heart in such a believable fashion. The supporting cast is excellent. Jane Lynch, Andy's boss at the electronics store, is simply marvelous in a seemingly effortless comic role. Watch that improvisation scene with Seth Roger (it's improv but it seems written, outstanding), or Elizabeth Banks, who works at the bookstore, my god, is she funny! And let's not forget Catherine Keener. Her part was well-written, but she transcends the writing and creates something fully her own, a wonderful character. I loved her in almost every film she was in, but here she not only shows she is one of the greatest actresses around, but also one with incredible comedic skills.
The characters are well-written and well developed. This is in no way the kind of film that looks down on virgins and only vindicates them when they finally do it, more Porky's style, to draw a broad comparison. I could have done without the "Hair"-like dancing scene in the end, but well, such a gross-out ending is perhaps a fitting way to end a film like this. Amidst the barrage of mediocre and painfully unfunny comedies in recent years, like "The Wedding Crashers" (I really hated that one), this one really sticks out. It's definitely not for the easily offended, but despite many of the crude jokes, it never sinks to just tits-and-ass levels or plain crudeness. The film has the courage to believe in its own convictions. Great raunchy fun with a real heart.
Camera Obscura --- 9/10