He’s the kind of bachelor who decorates his apartment with comic-book action figures and vintage toys in their original plastic wrap. He works at an electronics superstore. When asked about his weekend, he describes his hours spent concocting a nice egg salad recipe.
Meet Andy Stitzer, 40-year-old virgin.
| Funny: It’s not great art, but this raunchy comedy rains down belly laughs. Steve Carell plays a well-meaning boob whose friends try to help him lose his virginity.
Rated: R rating is for language, nudity, subject matter. Now showing: |
Andy is the hero of a film entitled, naturally enough, “The 40-Year-Old Virgin.” This movie may not be a great work of art, but it rains down belly laughs in a veritable downpour.
Andy is played by Steve Carell, who used to be one of the brilliant cut-ups on “The Daily Show” and has lately been holding down the U.S. remake of “The Office” as its manager. Carell has specialized in clueless boors, but “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” actually does a fair job of making his character both the butt of jokes and a plucky, sympathetic hero. The film doesn’t ridicule Andy because he’s a virgin; it understands his Peter Pan tendencies all too well.
Andy’s co-workers are a trio of self-styled playboys who discover his virginal secret and decide to help him meet women. They provide the raunchier material in the movie, whether dragging Andy to a speed-dating evening or giving him explicit sexual advice.
Three quick, improv-minded actors fill these roles: Paul Rudd, Romany Malco and Seth Rogen. Rudd and Malco previously co-starred in “The Chateau,” a very funny film that deserves rediscovery.
In desperately trying to lose his virginal status, Andy tries his luck with a kinky bookstore clerk (Elizabeth Banks) and a drunk (Leslie Mann) who gives him a hair-raising ride home from a club. But will Andy find true happiness – or at least change his status – with a single mom (Catherine Keener) who works in the shop across the street?
The casting of Keener, the powerhouse actress from “Adaptation” and “Being John Malkovich,” indicates how this movie is more grounded than, say, “Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo,” another comedy that goes heavy on the dirty talk. As silly and scattershot as this movie is, it actually takes the time to build comic ideas and establish characters. And then let them talk dirty.
It takes too much time, actually; director Judd Apatow, who wrote the script with Carell, allows the film to stretch out to a full two hours, which is unusual for a comedy. And yet the movie sustains its laughs. Witnessing the waxing of Carell’s chest hairs may not sound like a classic sequence, but it’s a guaranteed water-cooler moment.
Apatow, the veteran comedy writer who worked on some of Jim Carrey’s movies and produced the TV series “Freaks and Geeks,” has an ear for wacky dialogue and an eye for casting good people (Jane Lynch, Mo Collins) in small parts.
But the key is Steve Carell, in his first starring role. Carell’s ability to come across as a well-meaning boob makes the picture work, and he’s a good straight man for everybody else. The only problem: How do you make a sequel to a movie about a man losing his virginity?
Steve Carell (left) stars with Paul Rudd, Romany Malco and Seth Rogen in “The 40-Year-Old Virgin.”
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