Legend has it the Michael McDonald DVD is still playing

Rating: 8/10 (30 May 2019)

Here we have yet another first-world comedy from the king of first-world comedies, Judd Apatow, himself. The director/writer/producer crafted, this time, an interesting story with a lead character just begging to be liked. Andy (Steve Carell) is an apparent worry-free, happy, well-groomed respectable man, working at a tech store, but there is something off about him... oh, right, he's a 40-year old virgin (in case you hadn't figured it from the title) and a nerd.
If riding his bike to work and signaling his turns does not make you think that something is off with him, then his enormous collection of toys and action figures definitely will. The plot revolves pretty much around his co-workers and friends helping him to get laid--hallelujah! Despite its comedic tone and its raunchiness, this is a surprisingly insightful film as far as buddy comedies go, even if the information revolves around various echelons of women and naughty theories about sex. The film's misogynistic moments are often necessary, and not everything boils down to sex, but the experience of love.
Andy's buddies, despite being a bunch of hedonists and testosterone driven macho-men, are not worried simply because he never had sex. They want him to experience love, they genuinely think about his emotional future, and the comedy comes from the fact that the only way they know how to teach him is by bringing him to obscene nightclubs, offering him a box filled with pornographic material or simply giving him instructions on how to approach a woman.
There are tons of moments of pure modernity-inspired fun even outside this main plot. One of the most random and best recurring gags is the one in which the only material playing on the TVs on display is a two-year old Michael McDonald DVD of which David (Paul Rudd), makes a bold, funny and perfectly-delivered threat to his boss to be changed. All-in-all, Andy does interact with many women and we see flashbacks of his failed teenager years attempts at popping his cherry, all failing in hilarious ways--this is another thing that I liked: there was no dramatic moment or anything in his life, he simply had bad luck!
Apatow crafted yet another first-world, modern comedy. It is what it is, but by the end of it, despite knowing that ideally Andy should be with a single woman, Trish, who is presented as the one, the film does a great job at confusing you as well as him. Luckily there are many gags to keep you entertained and with such a sweet, human character, I can barely get past the cringe-inducing song at the end.