Worth the money.

Rating: 8/10 (21 August 2005)

In a time when even remotely humorous movies rarely come along, 40-Year-Old Virgin was a much-needed and anticipated film. For the most part, the humor was very well done. The Michael MacDonald DVD, the action figures, and the Age of Aquarius ending were were fantastic. Yet, certain elements of the "humor" cheapened the movie more than they enhanced it. The token angry-Pakistani co-worker, the excessive cursing, the lame "hip" friend covered in tattoos, drunk Beth, "pussy on a pedestal," and the sexually harrasing boss were trite, disposable, and inefficacious aspects of the film. There were, however, several genius moments, with jokes that took a second or two to process. It's hard to articulate, but Carell manages to be uproariously funny in some scenes simply by means of his body language or facial expression. All in all, this movie will have you laughing so much your face hurts. As others have mentioned, there are some lulls...I thought it could've done without the drawn out Trish/Andy relationship. For film that manages to insult essentially every racial/ethnic group, it certainly does it with a touch of class. It's worth the money for the laughs--it's certainly far better than the majority of the crap on Comedy Central. But by all means, do not enter the theater expecting a "profound" Oscar-worthy drama. Some of the jokes are indeed puerile and sophomoric, yet the overall structure of the film, as well as references to long-gone pop culture, make this a film that teen boys won't be able top to fully appreciate. No one in the New York City theater that I saw it in walked out; on the contrary, it was rolling with laughter in incessant 30-second intervals.