Never cruel or mean-spirited, sometimes crude and raunchy, but always endearing and heart-warming ...

Rating: 9/10 (21 October 2012)

"Father of the Bride", "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" or "The Hangover" most of the successful comedies originated from simple ideas with great comical potential; you got the original idea just by reading the title. And Judd Appatow's "The 40 Year Old Virgin" is one of these comedies.
Yet, relying on an excellent premise wasn't enough to be considered one of the funniest films of the year. Had the screenplay tried to mock the hero's condition and featured desperate attempts to have sex with a girl, in a sort of cross between "American Pie" starring the kind of characters that Adam Sandler could have played, the film would have been 'another mindless sex comedy'. Instead, it's a witty and heart-warming little gem centered on one of the sweetest and most likable characters: Andy, played by Steve Carell. The critical success depended on one factor, simple but vital: the main character and I guess the surprise of "The 40 Year Old Virgin" is even more pleasant when you expect a raunchy slapstick comedy with no heart.
But as soon as we meet Andy, all the suspicions are swept off. He's a bachelor who works in a TV store and after many failures that suspended his trust on his own capacities, he abandoned the idea of ever having sex, and filled his life with toys' collections, virtual games, on-line poker, music and little-figurine paintings. He's not the typical dork with no-life, on the contrary, he has too much life, too many occupations working as time-fillers not to think about sex. He doesn't even compensate through masturbation or pornography, he is not mono-sexual but asexual. But Steve Carrell has a way to incorporate the flaws and the shy mannerisms of Andy with the right balance between charm and pathos. We feel sorry for him but we don't pity him, and never does the rooting process ever stop.
And while the script, written by Appatow and Carell, could have take Andy's personality for granted as a source of gags, the masterstroke came with the peripheral characters, especially Andy's colleagues. David (Paul Rudd), Cal (Seth Rogen) and Jay (Romany Malco) invite Andy for a poker. And the inevitable happens, when invited to share a sex-related memory, Andy loses all credibility when he compares women's tits to bag of sands. This is a cleverly written scene, not just as a pivotal moment but because it's all in the reactions and the way we expect the male conversation to turn to sex, and from sex to the revelation. It's also a very well acted moment, where you can also notice the subtle performance of Rudd, and the way he observes Andy as if he already understood.
The pay-off doesn't work on a comedic but rather on a human level. Cal is happy to learn that Andy is not the creepy 'serial killer' he expected, while Jay doesn't mock him, on the contrary, he believes it's an opportunity to help Andy, not help out of pity, help out of a feeling of true virile camaraderie. The point is that Andy is less a freak than a guy who didn't get his break, and each buddy, guided by his own view of life, elaborates a personal diagnosis and remedy to Andy's condition. Andy should learn to stop putting women (a subtle anatomic metonymy is used) on a pedestal, to go to parties where the drunker a girl is, the easier she'll be to get, all naturally, all these strategies end up failing, providing some hilarious gags in the process.
And it's fitting that they fail, because the point is to provide insights on male perceptions about sex and women but it's only by controlling the situation that Andy has to succeed. And he finally meets Trish, an e-bay vendor working in a neighboring store. Keener delivers a sweet and tender performance as a woman who's not your typical cynical single-mom but rather kept her faith on men, and developed with Andy, a mutual fondness. She sees, like us, something in him. He's a good man who doesn't see sex as an Alpha and Omega, Trish also believes that they should put sex on stand-by, a convenience that naturally satisfies Andy. And that's the core of the film, sex doesn't make happiness like money, but like money, its lack can be handicapping. And Andy's friends welcome the new relationship but still advise him to get a sexual experience not to disappoint Trish.
We know it's inevitable that she'll suspect something, but meanwhile, the film unveils some other aspects on the supporting characters. David can't get over his ex-girlfriend, Jay admits his lacks of self-confidence, the boss, Paula desperately needs sex, this puts their advice into perspective and show that no one is better than Andy. At the end it's just a wonderful and colorful gallery of characters that the film assembles to provide some insights about sex, gender and race, in an adult and never offensive way. Whether it's the staff mocking the two Oriental workers or the unforgettable "I know why you're gay" exchange between Rudd and Rogen, the film has a way to take risks and never sounding offensive, quite a performance in our era poisoned by the tyranny of political correctness.
"The 40 Year Old Virgin" starts with a cruel premise but the treatment of Andy's social handicap is never mean spirited and only works as the occasion to approach sex, and the way it helps or undermine love. It's an endearing love story between two sympathetic characters, and a wonderful casting celebrating in apotheosis the triumph of love through a hilarious musical parody at the end. It's one of the best comedies of the 2000's that didn't get any Golden Globe nomination, not for Carrell, not for Keener, not even one for Best Comedy and that's the only feeling of disappointment the film inspired me.