It might be raunchy and loaded with sex jokes but underneath it all "The 40 Year Old Virgin" has a lot of heart.

Rating: 8/10 (27 August 2005)

I remember when I first watched the trailer for this movie; I said to myself wow that looks like a good movie. I love Steve Carell in everything he has done so far and it's about time in my opinion that he got his own movie. With that being said, I walked into the theater to see "The 40 Year Old Virgin" expecting a lot from the movie and all of the positive reviews it received. So did it live up to its hype? Well keep reading to find out.
Andy Stitzer (Steve Carell) is your typical dorky guy. He works at an electronics store, he collects things, he is always in good spirits, and overall he is a great person. One day at his job, Andy gets an offer from David (Paul Rudd) to come play poker with him and his buddies Jay (Romany Malco) and Cal (Seth Rogen). Andy is very excited about the offer and accepts but as they meet up that evening for the game, Andy gets more than he expects as his new friends find out that he is still a virgin and will stop at nothing in order to get Andy laid.
I typically don't like sex comedies because they are brainless and seem to use too many recycled jokes in order to get a laugh. Now granted this movie had a lot of brainless and raunchy jokes, probably too many for my tastes and in fact after the first 10 minutes of the film, they fire off at the audience probably every other minute. Some however do work and are actually creative and funny. But its more of the non sex gags that get the laughs, the famous chest waxing scene from the trailer and TV spots is probably one of the funniest scenes in the film and is even more so now knowing that Steve Carell actually had it done to him, there were no special effects involved there.
In my opinion, the best part of the movie was the second half, after the film got past all the lets get Andy laid crap. The movie really took off, at least for me, when Andy found someone interested in him because it seemed very realistic. I really enjoyed the main character Andy because it seemed like a real character, and in fact even reminded me of myself at times. I like movies where you can relate to the characters or a character; it makes a film more enjoyable.
Despite the overuse of sex jokes, the movie works because of several reasons. The first and most important reason for me was that the characters in the film worked. They were real characters with real problems and the movie actually had character development. Reason two is even though the movie does end happily, it ends realistically. Andy may in fact get involved with someone but it's not a supermodel or a drop dead gorgeous woman but a single mom with three kids. It seems very believable to me. Also, the movie never really pokes fun of the main character for being a virgin and to me that was very refreshing because like Andy says in the movie "it's a choice" and the movie never seems to make fun of his choice. And finally, the movie never takes itself too seriously because while the story on the whole is very touching and sweet, the movie never gets mushy or soft and the ending which is my favorite scene in the movie shows that. It ends so randomly and hysterically.
Judd Apatow who wrote and directed the film has a future in film. He knows how to write comedy. I am looking forward to his next film "Fun with Dick & Jane" which he wrote the screenplay for. I think this guy will be around for a while.
In the end, there wasn't much about "The 40 Year Old Virgin" that I didn't like. With Carell in the lead and the witty yet touching script really made this movie what it is. The jokes like I said are little too much at times but other than that this movie is really great. It could be quite possibly the best comedy of the year. I highly recommended it too all who want a good laugh and those who want to actually see a comedy movie with good characters.
MovieManMenzel's final rating for "The 40 Year Old Virgin" is a 9/10.