Painfully uncomfortable movie

Rating: 1/10 (16 April 2006)

I bought the DVD on the recommendation of a friend that this was one of the funniest movies in years, and a similar recommendation from a local DJ. But this movie had no redeeming features that I saw. From the awkward dialog surrounding the revelation that Andy was a 40-year-old virgin through the completely predictable ending, the movie went from one uncomfortable scene to the next. Even the scenes that could have been hilarious (the "waxing scene") were tainted by Andy's totally uncharacteristic swearing.
I will say that Steve Carell did pull off a very convincing loser. It was actually too convincing -- he stopped being funny and was simply pathetic. Every one of his co-workers was a completely one-dimensional prop (the mopey break-up guy, the horn-dog, the butch boss,) and they never changed. Every joke was either: "be depressed, this guy is a sadder loser than before," or "hey, let's swear." While swearing as a punchline can be funny once or twice, basing an entire movie on it is not.
Long before the end of the movie I didn't care if he got laid or not. I just wanted it to end. I tried to switch off the DVD half way through, but my wife said, "Oh, no, you made me watch this and now you're going to suffer, too. And I'm never going to let you forget it." So I'm dreading the next chick-flick that comes around.