
Director Jude Apatow’s “The 40 Year Old Virgin” is everything that a sex comedy should be. It’s raunchy, rude and profane. But above all this, the movie is pleasantly charming and sweet. When you look at the premise of this movie, comparisons with “American Pie” are inevitable. But this movie, with a far more mature approach and a charismatic lead actor, leaves “American Pie” far behind. This is undoubtedly THE best comedy of 2005. And it sure made way into my top 10 comedies of all time.
Andy (Steve Carell) is, as the title suggests, “The 40 Year Old Virgin”. He hasn’t dated for a looooong time. After a few sexual debacles early in life, he has simply stopped trying. Now he “respects” women so much that he completely stays away from them. He has gone into a shell where he is not looking for any relationship with the opposite sex and he doesn’t even want to think about sex. Instead, he spends his time painting tiny toy soldiers, playing video-games, collecting action figures of his favorite comic characters. His house is like a museum where all the action figures are stuffed up on the shelf. Andy works as a Stock Supervisor at Smart Tech, an electronic gadgets showroom. He is not exactly the most popular guy at office. His shyness has prevented him from getting along with his colleagues. In fact, one of his colleagues, Cal thinks that he might be a “serial murderer”. One day on a poker night, his colleagues, Cal (Seth Rogen), David (Paul Rudd), Jay (Romany Malco) discover about Andy’s “status” and they take it upon themselves to change it. Each of Andy’s buddies has a different advice for him. Jay wants him to “own” his instincts, use his “peripherals” and tackle the “gazelle”. Cal wants Andy to “plant” many seeds and wait till the seeds grow and then f**k the “plants”. David, who himself is struggling to recover from a broken relationship, hands Andy a huge box of porn that might open “the Pandora’s Box of love” for him. Needless to say that with different advice from each of his buddies, Andy gets into more and more embarrassing situations. But Andy also starts coming out of his shell slowly and meets Trish (Catherine Keener) with whom he feels that he has a connection. But she has 3 kids and one of her kids has a kid. So that makes Andy “the dude with a hot granny”. There is also Beth (Elizabeth Banks) and Andy’s boss Paula (Jane Lynch) who have got the hots for Andy.
First-time director Jude Apatow, who co-wrote the script with Steve Carell, handles the story with a deft hand. Not even once do we feel that this is the work of a new director. He has expertly guided the movie and keeps it a consistent laugh riot. The movie takes some time to find its feet. But when it hits its stride, there is simply no stopping it. The jokes just keeps coming. I don’t remember any movie in recent times that has delivered such a consistent flow of humour and there is hardly any misfire. The dialogues are not only profane, but also extremely witty. The movie is a little lengthy. But surprisingly, it does not drag on. Even though it feels at least half an hour longer, the jokes do not get boring and thankfully none of the jokes are repeated (except for the “You know how I know that you’re gay?”..bit). I laughed so hard the first time I watched this that my stomach was actually hurting. It cracked me just as much the second time (I watched this movie two nights in row) also.
Steve Carell has finally come into his own. I am not a very big “Office” fan. But from whatever random episodes I had seen, I knew that he could be a very effective comedian. But little did I know that he could provide so many LOL moments with a straight face. He doesn’t try too hard to make us laugh. The laughter comes quite naturally. Carell uses his low-key charisma to make the viewers feel comfortable and like Andy. His Andy is the perfect mix of geekness and sweetness. He proves that with a good script he can carry a movie. Catherine Keener is quite becoming as Andy’s love. Romany Malco and Seth Rogen shine in their respective roles.
Despite its rude and raunchy tone, the movie succeeds in coming across as extremely sweet. But this is definitely not a movie that everyone is going to enjoy. Some people might get offended by some of the stuff in the movie. As far as I am concerned, I totally loved the movie. I’m really looking forward to Jude Apatow’s “Knocked Up” now.