Anthony's Film Review - The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005)

Virgins, nice guys, and lonely hearts rejoice! This movie is very funny, delightful, and heartwarming...

Let me first get a couple of things out of the way. The 40-Year-Old Virgin is a wonderful comedy movie, because it has plenty of good humor and acting all mixed with a bittersweet story about the true meaning of love. Steve Carell is the perfect choice to play Andy, the 40-year-old guy who has never had sex. Catherine Keener as Trish is wonderful as the main love interest for Andy. Everyone else is great, too. I also like the various jokes involving frustration with condoms, signs of homosexuality, ripping off chest hair, and weird things to do with the multiple television sets at the electronic store where Andy works. Overall, the movie made me laugh and smile a lot.

OK, I'm done. Now onto what I really want to talk about.

For this review, I'm going to get rather personal, but not so much that I'll go completely off topic. I myself was a virgin at the time of the film's release. Like many virgins, it is often difficult to be in public and watch other people easily go out on dates and, in many cases, score at the end of them. When I saw Andy on the theater screen, a single guy with a toy collection going to work at an electronic store with more carefree coworkers, it was almost like watching myself there. This was a character I instantly related to. He and I were similar in many ways.

When I watched the scene with Andy playing poker with his friends Cal, Dave, and Jay and then sharing sex stories, I knew there would be a sense of frustration. You can tell when Andy makes up a story about having sex that the others figure it out is fake, because Andy attempts to compare women's breasts to sand bags. Virgins, and those with little or no experience in the dating scene, have a very hard time, because society seems to laugh at those who are left out. In fact, look at all the other movies out there. How many of them involve trying real hard to get laid (e.g., American Pie)? That's why I like The 40-Year-Old Virgin. It's the more rare kind of movie promoting something different.

I'm glad this movie doesn't simply look down upon virgins and only glorifies them when they finally have sex. I thought this was what the movie was about, until critics said otherwise. The movie takes a good look at the various situations such people have difficulty with. We see Andy encouraged to try speed-dating, pick up a girl at a bookstore, and even watch pornography. But we also see the other side. Cal, Dave, and Jay have problems of their own despite providing their so-called advice to Andy.

What's nice is that Andy doesn't give in easily. At every moment, he just wants to be himself. And when he meets Trish (Catherine Keener) at the electronic store and the eBay service she works at across the street, you can see that it's a match made in heaven. She isn't the sleazy or wild type many people see. She is a woman in her forties who later reveals has two children. She even discusses with Andy about not having sex until after 20 dates. Andy, the lifelong virgin who has always been reserved about sex, easily agrees to this.

In the end, the lesson is clear. Love is the thing that is truly meaningful, and sex is a physical and emotional experience that binds the love between two people. Sex just for physical pleasure and a false sense of satisfaction is meaningless. This isn't anything new. It's been preached for a long time, but only with this movie does a moviegoer really start to think about it. Everyone can begin to understand that there is nothing wrong with waiting. So to those frustrated by societal pressures, there's nothing wrong with you. And to everyone else, I hope the movie helps you appreciate such people.

So with that, I would like to thank Steve Carell and everyone else involved, including Seth Rogen, for making this sweet, not to mention very funny, movie.

Anthony's Rating:

For more information about The 40-Year-Old Virgin, visit the Internet Movie Database.