The movie's poster is funnier than the movie.

Rating: 1/10 (24 August 2005)

The feeling persists that Steve Carell is somehow smarter than this material. Perhaps it was his association with "The Daily Show" that generates high expectations . . . or, if "high" is too strong a word, our expectations are raised at least some inches above the curb abutting the gutter. And indeed, perhaps the original treatment intended to be a witty and ironic take on what is and is not expected of males in the sexual arena in our modern society. Blah blah blah.
But that's precisely the sort of movie that Hollywood would never bankroll, and so such idle speculations are really a waste of time. Carell and director John Apatow keep the material strictly aimed at the most lucrative target audience of 18-to-25 year-olds, as well as the younger adolescents who will view the DVD later: morning stiffies; "you-know-how-I-can-tell-you're-gay" wisecracks; plenty of T & A; a chick barfing in some dude's face. Carell achieves at least one original moment, to put it charitably (others may call it an all-time new low): he literally gets his hirsute chest bloodily waxed before our eyes. Laughing yet? Yeah -- nothing for adults here, even though the title informs us that it's about a 40-year-old.
Then it occurred to me that I was AGAIN witnessing a film featuring both Carell and Paul Rudd. The last time was in *Anchorman*. *The 40-Year-Old Virgin*, therefore, firmly belongs within the Wilson/Vaughn/Stiller/Ferrell/Rudd Nexus of Bad Comedy that I railed about in my review of *Wedding Crashers*. Now, we can add another forward-slash, followed by Carell's name, to the Nexus' lengthy prefix. I suppose one ought to be thankful that Will Ferrell doesn't put in a cameo in this one. Indeed, I almost raised up the rating for *The 40-Year-Old Virgin* to 2 stars out of sheer gratitude for this fact. But! -- Luke Wilson is referenced by actual name when one of the sexy females in the movie compares the Carell character to Wilson, physically speaking. (Carell, who wrote much of the screenplay, proves once again the eternal egotism of writers.) Now that was just one reference to the Nexus too many; therefore, back down to 1 star.