The 40-Year-Old Virgin (REVIEW)

UNIVERSAL REMOTE

Judd Apatow and Steve Carell's The 40-Year-Old Virgin is the 2nd funniest movie of the year, right behind Wedding Crashers. (I reserve the right to change this ranking if I ever get to see The Aristocrats.) I'm sure everyone knows the plot so I won't bother. And if you don't know it, read the title again.

The movie is very funny, surprisingly sweet, and thankfully short. Far too many comedies fall into the trap of taking themselves too seriously in the third act and take forever to cross the finish line. (Wedding Crashers is an obvious example.) Virgin deftly avoids this.

Some of my favorite lines/moments, in no particular order:

• The "You know how I know you're gay?" fight between Seth Rogan and the priceless Paul Rudd.
• "I'm very discreet...and will haunt your dreams."
• Carell speaking in ebonics to his black co-worker's girlfriend.
• "How come we never get invited to parties? What are we, fucking Al Qaeda?"
• Carell blowing his cover by comparing the feel of a woman's breast to "a bag of sand."
• The appearance of Rudd's ex, Amy.
• Rogan advising Carell's to "be like David Caruso in Jade" in order to score with women.
• Carell knowing exactly what "be like David Caruso in Jade" means.
• The Waxing Scene.

The Waxing scene is probably the comic highlight, especially if you know the whole thing was done for real, Jackass-style. They shot it with five cameras and Carell's pain is real. His screams of agony are hilarious ("Yooooooooow, Kelly Clarkson!") but for me the real laughs come from everyone's reactions. And kudos to the great Catherine Keener for playing the hottest grandma in film history. While The 40-Year-Old Virgin is more even and consistenly funny than Wedding Crashers, it doesn't have that movie's deliriously funny moments. Now if someone would just write Paul Rudd a starring vehicle...