The 40-Year-Old Virgin

The 40-Year-Old Virgin (Judd Apatow, 2005) [6]
Let me just say that you won’t find a bigger fan of Freaks & Geeks and Undeclared than myself. Those two shows were created and produced by Judd Apatow, who happens to direct this movie. So maybe I came into this with a little too high expectations. Its funny and all, but that’s about it. There’s nothing in this film that really creates the connection in me the way those two T.V. shows did. All that being said, it’s nice to see a comedy that can still be consistently funny and have some real emotion behind it. The characters, especially Steve Carrell’s, gets ridiculed but is still treated with humanity and real emotion. The character of Andy could have easily been a cheap joke punching bag, but he is portrayed as a real person. But I feel that Carrell does carry the film on his shoulders a little too much. I thought the other characters, while having tangible qualities, relied a little too heavily on stereotypical humor, especially the characters that weren’t white. I didn’t like the Paul Ruud character, and I’ve never found Paul Ruud really funny in anything. And I can’t remember a comedy that was over two hours long (unless you consider The Godfather, Part III…...ZING!).