"Kelly Clarkson!"

Rating: 10/10 (1 September 2015)

The 40 Year-Old Virgin (2005): Dir: Judd Apatow / Cast: Steve Carell, Catherine Keener, Paul Rudd, Seth Rogen, Romany Malco: Hilarious yet stern comedy about identity. Steve Carell plays a virgin at forty. He is an electronics salesman whose friends try to advance him in his sexuality when they learn of his inexperience. Inventive screenplay plays out with a celebration of marriage. Director Judd Apatow does a superb job at creating a worldview through the eyes of the sexually depressed. Carell is hilarious as a virgin who collects action figures and rides a bicycle to work. The film is at its hilarious best when he is presented with various methods of communicating with women, which mostly leave him frustrated. Catherine Keener plays an Ebay worker who strikes up a friendship with Carell. She is a mother of three and questions his unwillingness to progress sexually. Carell's co-workers include Paul Rudd who is depressed after his last breakup, Seth Rogan, a writer and pot smoker who directs Carell to greater sexual conquests, and Romany Malco as a player whose girlfriend suspects his cheating ways. They all have different approaches and advice to Carell that all leads to frustration and somewhat personal detachment. Strong theme regards the pressure of sexuality and the embarrassment of lacking sexual knowledge or experience. It is one of the funniest and best comedies of the year. Score: 10 / 10