Surprisingly good

Rating: 7/10 (28 November 2005)

I missed out on this film during its cinema release as I figured it to be yet another sex-comedy with gross-out gags. While the film does contain a little of this it is way more character based and the humor comes from more absurd situations than disgusting. Never judge book by its cover huh? Andy Stitzer (Steve Carrell) is a 40-year-old virgin. His life is made up of working in the returns department of an electronics store, collecting toys of movie characters and watching reality TV with his OAP neighbors. The touch of a woman is foreign to him and he is yet to be educated in their mysterious ways. Though he does have the bonus of not having to put up with their moaning, tantrums and bitching 'because they can'! When his secret is wrenched out of him his work buddies make it their mission to help him pop his cherry and think of a zillion, wacky, hair-brained schemes.
But Andy is interested in Trish (Catherine Keener) the woman from the store across the road. Only he's really intimidated and arranges a weird no-sex policy with her that originally makes her relax at not having to live up to expectations but eventually makes her want to explode. Can he keep his secret from her too and perform the dirty deed with apparent expertise of your average porn stud? I'm just not a fan of all these "Apatow Comedies". Most of them long outstay their welcome and go on for well over two hours. The 40 Year Old Virgin is no exception.
Despite some crude humor here and there this is more of a light-hearted 'drama-com' than a romantic comedy. Carrell also proves he a far more talented actor and comedian than Will Ferrel or Adam Sandler.
Three stars are for the movie but it gets an extra bonus half-star for including a wonderfully, wonderfully top-heavy actress as Trish's daughter. Man, with women this big-boobed you just know there is a God.