Don't Believe the Hype

Rating: Null/10 (20 June 2006)

When I first saw the trailer for this movie, it did not strike me as something I would rush out and see opening weekend. Since I enjoyed Steve Carell's previous work in Anchorman and Bruce Almighty, I knew eventually I would get around to it. Then it happened. The reviews started coming out saying this was the funniest movie of the year etc. etc and although this will probably drop, the 7.9 rating on this site is quite impressive. Needless to say, mildly interested turned into must see and as every experienced film buff knows, high expectations should be avoided at all costs. But then again, a good movie is impervious to being over-hyped. With that said, I soon found myself in the theater anxiously awaiting the best comedy of the year...or so I thought.
As the title of the movie suggests, Andy Stitzer is a forty year old virgin who is quite comfortable in his situation until his secret is exposed during a card game with coworkers. This sets the all too familiar plot in motion as we have seen in films such as Swingers and Sideways. His buddies are determined to get him laid and are quick to impose their insightful advice like "Tackle drunk bitches" or "Don't put the p*ssy on a pedestal". And so it goes. During this quest to achieve the impossible, a customer named Trish enters the electronics store where Andy works and of course, becomes the main focus of interest...as in every other film of this nature. Carell and Keener do share a convincing chemistry to keep this aspect buoyant through act 2 but loses momentum during act 3 weighed down by unconvincing drama.
Just as the premise is cliché, so are most of the jokes. Andy's introduction would have been much funnier if we didn't already see the stiffie joke in Anchorman or the angry Pakistanian coworker done in Office Space. There were a few really funny scenes in this movie but not nearly enough to adequately supply the lengthy 2 hour running time with consistent humor. The second half of the movie was like watching a bad sitcom - without the laugh tracks. The enthusiastic audience that was obviously enjoying the movie more than I was even stopped except an occasional chuckle. The Age of Aquarius sequence had me eying the exits and was relieved that it was soon over after that disastrous attempt at comedy.
Overall, I'm on the fence after watching this. This was not a terrible movie, it just wasn't that good or funny and certainly does not live up to the massive amount of praise accumulated from various sources. Had I approached this with no expectations without being exposing myself to the hype, I may have enjoyed it more. However, doing a little research on a film before seeing it has proved to be much more effective method than selecting something based solely on trailers...It's just not a perfect science.