2005, Rated R, starring Steve Carell, Catherine Keener, Seth Rogan, Paul Rudd, Romany MalcoWhy Its in the Dave100... When I saw "The 40 Year Old Virgin" for the first time last summer, it literally made me cry, I was laughing so hard. One of the Dave100 rules was that it had to have been at least 2 years since I'd seen it, but I decided to add a sub-rule to this... "...unless I've seen it more than a dozen times, and all the other rules apply." And I have. And yes, I will stop the remote when I come across this flick, yes I wonder what happened to the characters after the film is over and yes, its a brilliant film. And man, is it funny.
I did write about this on the blog, and here's some of what I had to say:
Steve Carell, in his star making turn, plays Andy. Andy works at SmartTech, collects valuable toys and though 40, has never had sex. When his buddies Dave (Paul Rudd), Cal (Seth Rogan) and Jay (Romany Malco) discover this, they make it their mission to... well, make him not a virgin. One attempt includes a funny turn by Leslie Mann, but it, like others, fail miserably. Enter Trish who works across the street at the eBay store
Though very crude, with lots of F-bombs and lots of crude terms for various things, this is, at its heart, a sweet movie. And oh, its funny... First, the fact he's a virgin is met with very little ridicule, which is great considering this world wants you to have as much sex as possible. Secondly, though morons they may be, his friends turn out to be pretty loyal in the end. And third, Catherine Keener, who turns in a Syndey Ellen Wade Performance. (June 12th, 2007)
The entire "You know how I know you're gay?" scene was improvised. Brilliantly, I might add. Some of the funnier parts are "You like the movie 'Maid in Manhattan'", "I saw you make spinach dip in a loaf of sour dough bread once", and "You like Coldplay."
Bottom line is, this movie has heart. Seth Rogan has morphed into one of my favorite actors, and I have yet to see Steve Carell in anything resembling this funny... even Brick Tamland wasn't this good.
Random Trivia... The scene where Andy has his chest hair removed, required five cameras set up for the shot. Star Steve Carell's chest hair was actually ripped out in the scene. The actor had told director Judd Apatow just before shooting the scene: "It has to be real. It won't be as funny if it's mocked up or if it's special effect. You have to see that this is really happening." The scene had to be done in one shot. So, when he screams "KELLY CLARKSON!!" that wasn't scripted, that was the first thing that came to mind.
The infamous Chest Waxing Scene
My Favorite Scene... The aforementioned scene, when Andy gets up, and Dave observes, "You look like a Man-o-Lantern". I paused the movie and laid on the floor laughing. Haven't done that in a while.