40 Year Old Virgin

—Overview
—Photos
—About this Film pdf

Ok, I went to see 40 Year Old Virgin (40YOV) tonight. First chance I had. I was really looking forward to it because I had heard it was number one in the box office last weekend. I had also heard that it had a real sweet message. My only hesitancy was that I had also heard it was a bit raunchy with some profanity. But I had heard the same about Wedding Crashers and I really loved Wedding Crashers.

So I know I am going to probably get a lot of hate e-mails on this one (ppl that like reviews generally don’t send e-mails J). But I thought, and I may be the only Reviewer to take this stance, that it was one of the worse movies I have seen this year. Especially in light of all the other great movies out this Summer.

But hear me out before you start telling me what a jerk I am and that all the other Reviewers loved the film. You may think I hated it because it was full of profanity and took stereotypes way beyond any reasonable imagination? Not really. I had heard much worse things about Wedding Crashers, that it was really raunchy – and I loved Wedding Crashers – one of the funniest movies I have seen this year. I am generally not bothered by profanity, nudity, or any of the other common reasons for a “R� rating – though I am not a big blood and gore fan. No, it was something else.

The Wedding Crashers had storyline that was supported by the profanity and sexual scenes. There was a reason for this in the film. There were various themes in it that I felt were well worth dealing with the raunchiness. But 40 YOV was a totally different film. I laughed a lot in both of the movies, but with 40YOV I realized about halfway through the flick that I was becoming extremely aggravated – don’t know quite how to explain it, but it was like I felt like punching something. It was sort of how I felt after 9/11.

Yes, the profanity was sharp, but it was really taken a little too far and while it is common use within films to use stereotypes and exaggeration to make it easier for the audience to understand the nature of the characters, this film goes way too far. According to this film every man is sex crazed maniac, unless you happen to be an inept nerd – and even then, you aren’t constantly “scoring� unless you are just unlucky. And nearly every woman is a stupid, drunken, whore. Even the “nice� girl has a mouth like a drunken sailor when she thinks she’s on the phone with a telemarketer. I think this is part of why I was getting aggravated.

While Wedding Crashers used sexual liaisons as a background for the storyline and strategically placed profanity to emphasize feelings, 40 YOV did just the opposite and I felt that the Director had decided to create as “shocking� a film as they could and then decided to fit some type of storyline after the fact. There is a trend in recent movies to create down and dirty “R� rated movies, but then incorporate a viable Message in the Movie with some decent moralistic value. Example is Wedding Crashers; where Owen Wilson began to realize that he and his buddy’s hobby of crashing weddings to get great food and “score� one-night stands – and then the relationship between the two friends themselves. I have no problem with this, but I think 40YOV missed the mark.

I will admit at this point that I knew about the Message at the end of the 40 YOV, but I never made it. I tried really hard to hang in there to get to the Message, but I couldn’t – at one point I got so aggravated and sick of the constantly bashing, and admittedly I found myself laughing and then thinking how terrible it was that I was laughing at the scene – that I finally just got up and walked out of the movie (which if you know me takes quite a bit – after all – I paid money and hate to throw it away).

But from talking with other Reviewers who were able to suffer through the film to the final line, even the Message is somewhat tainted because the 40 Year Old Virgin was a virgin out of a series of unfortunate events and not because of his desire to stay pure all those years – instead it was because he was an inept nerd who wanted to “score�, but just couldn’t. I will have to admit that the fact that Andy, played by Steve Carrell, did not want to go along with his new buddies in most of their women hunting events had some redeeming value – but even in this, it was because he was just afraid it would be another disastrous outing for him.

I had stated in my review of the Wedding Crashers that “if you can wade through some of the more offensive moments (which are, in the case of this movie, necessary to the film’s story), then this is a must see.� Unfortunately, I can not say the same about 40 Year Old Virgin. It had little value, if any, and unless you enjoy being constantly bombarded with the gross devaluation of both men and women, and overly foul language just for the sake of trying to shock the audience, this movie is a definite NOT see. It goes to the bottom of my 2005 list. There are so many other good movies out this Summer – see one of them, or even re-see a good movie you have already seen – but do not waste your time on this flick.

Continue:
—Overview
—Photos
—About this Film pdf