MOVIE REVIEWS: THE 40-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN
Friday, August 19 2005
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On the heels of the best buzz any movie has generated this year, critics are gushing with praise for The 40-Year-Old Virgin, co-written by and starring Steve Carell. Manohla Dargis in the New York Times, who calls the comedy, "charmingly bent," observes that nothing Carell has done in the past -- including his regular appearances on The Daily Show and his starring role in the U.S. version of The Office, conveys "his sheer likability [or] his range as an actor, both crucial to making this film work as well as it does." Jack Mathews in the New York Daily News writes that Carell "gives a breakout performance in the title role, creating a character who would be downright pathetic if he weren't so darn lovable." Carrie Rickey in the Philadelphia Inquirer marvels that the "film succeeds in having its virginity and losing it, too. Like Wedding Crashers, it purges its cynicism with romanticism." As for the title, Chris Kaltenbach in the Baltimore Sun writes: "People see the name of this movie and get defensive. What's wrong with being a virgin? they ask. Absolutely nothing, and that's part of the point of The 40-Year-Old Virgin, probably the most sweet-spirited sex comedy ever made. It's pretty funny, too." On the other hand, Lou Lumenick in the New York Post isn't buying any of that "sweet-spirited" stuff. "Like the somewhat less smutty Wedding Crashers, it panders to that crowd by wrapping envelope-pushing sex gags -- garnished with yards of misogynistic, homophobic and racist quips -- around a sweet love story between the innocent title character ... and a divorced young grandmother." And Geoff Pevere concludes in the Toronto Star: "The 40 Year-Old Virgin is overlong, meandering and pedestrianly executed (by first-time director [Judd] Apatow), and it leaves you wishing someone had pointed out economy and comedy aren't necessarily mutually exclusive."
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