40 Year Old Virgin (2005)

"The answer is, unequivocally, yes. Yes, Steve Carell can carry a movie.  Allison Benedikt, Chicago Tribune
"Buoyantly clever and amusing.  Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly
"...astoundingly astute but also wondrously clever...  Robert Wilonsky, Dallas Observer
"...an unconscionably funny sex farce that, by its end, turns into a tender and honest romance...  Scott Foundas, L.A. Weekly
"Sweet, raunchy, and very, very funny.  Victoria Alexander, FilmsInReview.com

Editor's Note Andy Stitzer (Steve Carell) rides his bike to his stockperson job at Smart Tech, has a nice apartment filled with collectable toys (in their original packages), and plays videogames every night before bed. He's also a 40-year-old virgin. During a poker game with his coworkers David (Paul Rudd), Jay (Romany Malco), and Cal (Seth Rogen), talk turns to sex and it becomes very clear that Andy doesn't know what he's talking about. His friends become intent on remedying his situation, and their advice leads to newfound confidence for naïve Andy. But when he develops true feelings for single mother Trish (Catherine Keener), Andy finds that all the sex advice in the world won't help him navigate the choppy waters of an adult relationship. In Andy, Carrell has found a perfect comic creation who is hilarious, lovable, and rooted in reality. Rudd, Malco, and Rogen are also perfectly cast as Andy's cheerleaders. The script, by Carrell and first-time director Judd Apatow (producer of TV's FREAKS AND GEEKS), is consistently funny, and--despite its relentless crudity--treats its nerdy protagonist with the utmost respect. This rare quality and its high laugh-to-joke ratio make VIRGIN one of the most enjoyable comedies of the decade.

	Catherine Keener
	David Koechner
	Elizabeth Banks
	Mo Collins
	Paul Rudd
	Romany Malco
	Seth Rogen
	Steve Carell
	Brent White - Editor
	Jack N. Green - Cinematographer
	Judd Apatow - Director
	Judd Apatow - Writer
	Judd Apatow - Producer
	Lyle Workman - Original Music By
	Steve Carell - Writer
	Steve Carell - Executive Producer
	Tom Reta - Art Director

Entertainment Weekly
"Carell plays him in the funniest and most surprising way possible: as a credible human being....Buoyantly clever and amusing..." 08/26/2005 p.40-41

Rolling Stone
"A howlingly comic revel in bad taste....[Carell] is flat-out hilarious....[It] keeps firing off rude, raucous laughs." 08/25/2005 p.111

USA Today
"Carell is now a major comedic force. With this awkward middle-aged character, which he expanded from a Second City comedy troupe sketch, he has landed on the ideal role to showcase his talents." 08/19/2005 p.6E

Sight and Sound
"[T]he movie is often funny. Carell delivers some great ad-libbing....[A] messy, mischievous cult comedy in the making." 10/01/2005 p.58

Premiere
"[B]ehind every cheap joke in the film, there's as much heart as there is smut..." 02/01/2006 p.107

Rolling Stone
Ranked #19 in Rolling Stone's "Top 25 DVDs Of 2005' -- "Proof positive that Carell and director Judd Apatow are top writers." 12/01/2005 p.98

Wall Street Journal
"Seth Rogen first scored on the big screen in Judd Apatow's raunchy and endearing comedy..." 01/14/2011

ReelViews 9 of 10
The 40 Year Old Virgin is proof that motion picture comedies can still be funny. Sadly, the kind of consistent humor delivered by this film happens too rarely. This is the movie Wedding Crashers should have been: rude, raunchy, uproarious, yet with elements that are surprisingly sweet. Unlike Wedding Crashers, which loses its edge (and a lot of its humor) early, The 40 Year Old Virgin keeps it up for nearly two hours. Yes, it's a little long, but there are still plenty of laughs remaining in the final 30 minutes, and the movie reserves one of its best jokes for last. If you're looking for a successor to There's Something About Mary and American Pie, look no further. It has arrived. And, if I may be so bold, this is more enjoyable than either of them. - James Berardinelli

Chicago Sun-Times 9 of 10
Here's a movie that could have had the same title and been a crude sex comedy with contempt for its characters. Instead, "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" is surprisingly insightful, as buddy comedies go, and it has a good heart and a lovable hero...On the surface, the movie assembles a collection of ethnic types as varied as "Crash." It has fun with them, but it likes them, and it's gentle fun that looks for humanity, not cheap laughs...The movie was directed by Judd Apatow, who produced "Anchorman," and written by Apatow and Carell, the "Daily Show" veteran who first developed the idea of a closeted virgin in a Second City skit. The screenplay is filled with small but perfect one-liners...At the end, for no good reason except that it strikes exactly the perfect (if completely unexpected) note, the cast performs a Bollywood version of "Age of Aquarius." By then, they could have done almost anything and I would have been smiling. - Roger Ebert