Decent comedy

Rating: 7/10 (7 June 2006)

Overall, I thought that this comedy contained a good number of laughs and was an enjoyable viewing experience. Steve Carrell was convincing and likable as the title character, and for the most part I liked the supporting cast portraying his coworkers who tried to help him to remedy his "predicament." Catherine Keener was also good as Carrell's romantic interest. The couple inexplicably had a decent on-screen chemistry, which made you root for both characters. The sarcastic banter between Carrell and Keener's teenage daughter is pretty funny, although the daughter kind of drops out of the last half hour of the film. While a lot of people have mentioned the film's raunchiness and gross out humor, I actually didn't really notice it while watching the movie. It certainly didn't strike me as being worse than anything out of a Farrely Brother's movie.
I had a few problems with the movie that forced me to detract several points. First, as many have commented, the film is really much longer than it needs to be. There are too many long scenes that don't arouse laughs and that don't contribute to either the plot or the characters' development. I actually would have been fine if the movie had ended right after the chase scene when Carrell finally confesses his secret to Keener. I didn't really need the typical happy Hollywood ending (not to mention the bizarre and spontaneous musical number at the conclusion). Some of the scenes that others have raved about didn't really do it for me, such as the excruciatingly long chest waxing scene. Similarly, the racial banter between the two South Asian characters and Romany Malco seemed out of place. They were funny at first, but they recur far too often and the South Asian guys never develop identities apart from trading racial insults with Malco. Finally, there is a scene in which Carroll criticizes Keener for trying to change him by making him sell all of his toys so that he can open up his own business. It looks for a moment that this is leading somewhere, and that maybe both characters will learn something about being too demanding of others, but then the premise is completely dropped, and we learn at the end that Carrell has indeed sold all of his toys to hold an extravagant wedding, which seems very inconsistent with his and Keener's characters.
Overall, this comedy had its share of laughs, but I was glad I waited until it came out on DVD.