THE 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN

Funny thing about this one. I know it had some buzz or whatever but when I bought it I had no idea about any of it. When I bought it I only had a vague idea of who Judd Apatow was, he's practically a genre now. Back then I saw this movie on the shelf and it made me chuckle because I actually happened to know a 40 year old virgin at the time. He used to come into the gym where I worked. He was odd, very sweet but stood a little too close to you when he talked and held eye contact for longer than was comfortable. He started dating a young woman. She was 24 and had a kid and was... well she was bit loose and she terrified him. Seriously he would have whispered conversations about how scared of her she was. I don't really know what happened there, I always wonder if he did ever lose his virginity. But I digress. I bought the film because I was in the mood for a comedy. I noticed it had that guy from the American version of The Office,

  it had Conrad from Weeds,

 
it had Paul Rudd, who to me will always be Josh from Clueless

Oh, you the fodder of my 13 year old dreams

and it had Seth Rogen who had a lot of love left over from me for Freaks and Geeks. They all did. James Franco is quite quickly burning through his though.

Just keep counting your paycheck. Don't even try.

Yeah so I was pleasantly surprised by this one. I didn't expect to like it as much as I did. I found it very funny and surprisingly touching. It's been a little while since I've seen it though. Here's what I remember:

'Steve Carell (can't remember his characters name) is a quiet unassuming nerd who works in an electronic store. A bunch of the sales guys including Paul Rudd, Seth Rogen and Conrad from Weeds are having a poker game and one of their usual members dropped out. They notice Steve and ask him if he would like to join the game despite him being a bit a quiet fellow who keeps to himself. 

Steve, desperate for friends, agrees. At the poker game the talk turns to the raunchier side and the guys start discussing conquests. Steve, having never done any conquering, makes some shit up. This immediately exposes him as a virgin. The guys it take upon themselves to get Steve laid. They take him to a nightclub where he ends up in a car with a drunk woman who scares the pants off of him, and pukes on him. So he doesn't sleep with her. They get him a prostitute who turns out to be a transvestite which has some unfortunate implications for Conrad. 

The Mona Lisa of transvestites

Then they take him speed dating where he meets a series of slightly odd women. 

By chance a nice lovely older lady comes into the electronics store. She and Steve get along really well and she gives him her number. He is too afraid to call. Some other stuff happens, there's a funny scene with a skanky Elizabeth Banks, where he keeps repeating what she's saying and it apparently works as a flirting technique.

However Steve really likes the woman he met at the store and starts dating her, he meets her kids who he manages to win over. But he's still really scared of sex. Throughout all of these encounters Steve is encouraged to grow up and change his life. Actually getting promoted at work and getting rid of his man child flat full of toys. There's a thing with a box of porn and a bit where Paul Rudd puts a video camera down his trousers. 

Steve finally has sex and all ends with a wedding. I think.'

After a rewatch: 

So, Steve Carell's character is named Andy. His love interest is named Trish. The movie does not differ much from what I described. There are a lot of non plot related scenes that I had forgotten about, but a lot of it is not worth recapping. The movie is fairly narrative free and there seems to be a lot of improvisation between the characters. To be honest I could have done with less bickering between the Smart tech employees. It wasn't that funny.

Also Jonah Hill how you've changed:

Would you?

Would I?... Nope, still wouldn't.

The various adventures and attempts to get Andy laid actually end up helping all of the Smart tech guys to grow up a little and invest in some adult relationships.

Trish and Andy's relationship is interesting because despite the fact that Trish has three kids, in her own way she's just as childish as Andy. In different ways neither of them really got to get past adolescence. Andy because he was incapable of having a relationship and Trish because she had children and got married really young.

Trish and Andy manage to get past their relationship misunderstandings, which to be honest that's all it was. The conflict came from Andy being to afraid to admit to Trish that he had never had sex. They get married and consummate the marriage. Happy days.

Awwww...

Yeah and then this happens. 

It's.. amusing? I don't know what it is. I don't hate it and I guess it fits with the sort of free wheeling make it up as you go along feel of the film. But still. What?

 

This film rested on the shoulders of its leading man. The virgin needed to be believable and sympathetic and Steve Carell made Andy very lovable and managed to carry the whole film so well. I think he needs to be given a lot of credit for this, I watched the semi follow up 'Knocked Up' and I loathed that film (it's not part of my DVD collection) and I think I hated it because Seth Rogen is not a great leading man, he's great as the sarky BFF or the goofy sidekick. But in that film he came off as mean and childish and I have a feeling they were going for the same lovable man-child thing they had here. Here because of Steve Carell it worked. There it didn't.