The 40 Year Old Virgin Hits a Little Close To Home

In the film "The 40 Year Old Virgin" Steve Carell plays a guy named Andy who collects action figures. This, however extreme similarity to my own life, does not mean that I have sold my memoirs to Hollywood.

But it the similarities are eerie!

But enough about my own insecurities about collectable plastic men, and onto the review.

Andy and his toys...

I've been a Steve Carell fan for years now. Ever since college when I would watch The Daily Show on Comedy Central... well... daily, I was impressed with his comedic strait man abilities. I felt he was very underutilized as the idiotic weatherman in last year's "Anchorman: The Ledged of Ron Burgundy." But with Correll working as co-scripter of the film and it's star you get one of the most original presentations out of Hollywood in quite some time. The reason for this is that Carell and co. are not part of the Hollywood establishment. No it's not that there's groundbreaking new cinema being made here, but at least it's jokes that haven't been done before, redone and done again. It was just new (albeit edgy) genuinely funny comedy.

The story is that of an employee who works in an electronics store. During a poker game with coworkers it comes out that he has no experience with the fairer sex. This prompts the three different personas in the card game to start devising plans to get Andy... some... a.... well you know.


The 40 year old virgin and his toys!

Of course his friends' advice is worth exactly what he paid for it. NOTHING.

The moral of the story eventually becomes: get to know someone before you sleep with them. (Come to think of it, it would take a Hollywood outsider to put that in a movie).

But morals aside (Good advice if you want to laugh at this movie), this is one of the funniest comedies I have ever seen. The movie never takes itself too seriously trying to convey a hidden message, though the pot smoking scenes didn't seem to fit. The jokes come rapid fire. The comedy builds on momentum. Even with a slow start in the first fifteen minutes it's literally like a role coaster ride of comedy after the slow rise to the top of the first hill.

The comedy ranges from situational to gross-out. Again, morals aside. The supporting cast does a great job, and actually takes the role of the goofball losers, not the virgin. You see it's not that Andy is undersexed, it's that the rest of the world is oversexed.

Yes, I keep telling myself that too!