Review of The 40 Year Old Virgin (2005) by Jonathan B — 15 Sep 2014

Steve Carell manages to be completely disarming as Andy in this genuinely funny movie. He's a guy who just has no confidence when it comes to the ladies and following an unfortunate confession to his workmates, he finds himself being coached in the art of pulling.

Of course, the consequences are pretty disastrous and incredibly funny. There's a heart-warming element to the tale as well when Andy meets Trish (Catherine Keener) who proves to be the girl of Andy's dreams.

I had avoided this movie for a very long time as I lumped it together with a lot of the other inane American comedies but it is genuinely laugh-out-loud funny and not overly schmaltzy. Don't get me wrong, there are more than enough lewd jokes and crude situations to keep the average teenage boy sniggering but there's also a real story, cleverly woven into the narrative.

Andy's workmates in the guise of Seth Rogan, Romany Malco and Paul Rudd provide much of the ribald humour and are great at playing just a bunch of guys. I'm really glad I caught this gem of a movie by Judd Apatow who has made a well observed, believable cast of characters and put them into a sequence of really amusing situations.