The time has come to talk of things. Of films that are the best of Comic Kings. And yes, this movie has wings. I am now ready to beamingly review The 40 Year Old Virgin, my favorite of all comedies. A close second is Dumb & Dumber, followed by Meet The Spartans. But more about that later.
This movie is revolutionary. In a first in grossout comedy, this movie tackles sex. And other things. But mostly sex. And they do it in such a hilarious way that it feels like a high brow poop joke for men. Steve Carell breaks onto the scene in this one after Anchorman, and we have established the comedic actors who will dictate standout comedies for the next 5 or 10 years. (Seth Rogen hasn’t stopped… he maybe should have…) But in the best work that Judd Apatow has ever put out, The 40 Year Old Virgin stands at the pinnacle of best comedies of all time.
The 40 Year Old Virgin is the story of Andy (Steve Carell) a worker at a tech store (Smart Tech) with not much of a life outside his apartment. His co-workers think he’s weird and he doesn’t help refute that claim. It isn’t until one night over a game of poker (with one of the funniest scenes in comedic history) that the guys find out why he’s so strange.
He’s a virgin.
And that’s not even the whole hilarious scene! A lot of the jokes and quotes me and my friends use come from Paul Rudd and Romany Malco. So it just shows that the whole cast was integral in creating a superb comedy.
But with David (Paul Rudd), Cal (Seth Rogen), and Jay’s (Romany Malco) help, Andy sets out on the road to not becoming a virgin. Many hilarious scenes and antics later, Andy meets Trish (Catherine Keener) who shows off a fantastic body for an older woman, if I may add. The go on a whole buttload of dates and Andy finds love before sex… Or does he?
A hard and true scene. This actually happened.
This movie literally is too legit to quit. Most of the lines in this film were improvised right on camera. I myself own the unrated edition with 17 extra minutes, and it is one of the funniest experiences to watch this with my friends. Me and my friends had plans to remake this for ourselves, scene by scene, and adapt it to 4 18 year old guys. Those dreams are still alive in fact. If only…
Gotta slay some hoodrats. Boom, boom, boom.
I have become a big fan these actors because of this movie. Paul Rudd is hilariously and deliriously lost in lost love over a great cameo by Mindy Kaling (Kelly of The Office) as the infamous Amy. Paul Rudd is the character I related to in the movie with the lines that made me laugh the most. Romany Malco is genius in this movie, bringing his ghetto flavor to the film. I haven’t seen him in much else, but this movie has him shining with all the rest. Seth Rogen, well, I liked him more at the time. He has turned into that character in every comedy who just smokes weed and drinks all the time. He doesn’t add much to the comedy. But he did in this one.
And then there’s the infamous Steve Carell. Right before The Office took off, this was his role. He was born to play this role (seeing as he helped write it and produce it). He was fresh and new at this point and untested in the world of comedy. He’s outrageous when he needs to be, he was awkward and lovable, and he just knows how to deliver lines that sound
But each timeeeee…
You know how I know you’re gay? You like Coldplay.
unnatural coming from a man of his age. Fun fact, my mom went to Denison University with Steve Carell in college. He was a senior (and her R.A. if I’m not mistaken). He was involved in improv and comedy and there’s a picture of Steve during the porno scene that he turns around. He has a mustache, and he had one in college. That was a college photo. That’s pretty cool if I do say so myself.
So you got a great cast and some great cameos by some up and coming comedic stars. Jonah Hill makes an appearance as the overweight and strange eBay store customer. Jane Lynch, before Glee took off, played the Smart Tech boss and
The cast of champions. Looks like Rudd is rockin the clip on phone belt…
sexually aggressive woman, Paula (she’s a lesbian, BTW). Steve Carell’s wife, Nancy Carell makes an appearance as the sex education worker. David Koechner, co-star with Steve in Anchorman pays a visit, as well as Kevin Hart, the short and black comedian in one of the funniest scenes in the film. “I’m talkin’ frosty.” Oh, and if you look to the left in the first shot of the first club scene they take Andy to, you’ll see Jenna Fischer chilling on a couch as an extra. Check it out.
So what more could I say about this movie to make you go and watch it right now? Great comedy, hilarious, outrageous jokes, and an all-star cast of soon to be big actors. Judd Apatow did something right in directing this movie along with giving Steve Carell the chance to be the “It Kid” of comedy. I love every minute of this movie and I hope you will too. Best comedy of all time. 10 out of 10.
I gotta say I was not a big fan of this movie. I really didn’t know where this movie was coming from not having seen the original 1985 version and I didn’t know at all where it was going. With a cast of reputable kiddish actors lead by Anton Yelchin, I expected a bit more from this film. Souring the mood with a debilitating approach to lighting, this movie came at me from all the wrong places.
This is the story of a young man, Charley Brewster (Anton Yelchin). No longer the bullied in his high school, he has become the passive bully. He ignores his former friend Ed (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) and finds solace only in his airhead toolish friends and girlfriend, Amy (Imogen Poots. What a horrid name.) With Ed and their friend Adam (Will Denton, not all that important.) these three crusaders would L.A.R.P. and Dungeon Master themselves to death. They loved the
Colin Farrell was pretty dope.
occult and all these fantasy. And then one day, a vampire moves into town and starts killing.
I have to say I enjoyed the first scene of the film. Straight from a thriller horror movie, a boy is chased and killed along with his family by what appears to be a home invader. That was pretty intense and old schoolish. Always the suggestion and hinting at the supernatural. Then you find out it’s Adam. Feel a bit bad, move on. Ed ropes in Charley and is abandoned by the middle of the film. That’s the one part of the movie I felt they should have stayed on. Straying from the course and focusing more on the damsel in distress made the movie unoriginal. (or… followed the original 1985 version…) I loved Chris Mintz-Plasse in this movie. I hated him and everything else about Superbad. Go
Here's where the acting came from. And there's where the lighting went.
figure. But it was the friendship between these two and the fact that one needed the other just as much was what really struck a chord for me in this movie. And that only mattered for about 20 minutes. Screw that.
Then let’s get into how (okay it does relate to the original, but…) this movie resonates with Mom’s Got a Date with a Vampire. That was some good Disney joint back in the day. That dad from The Nanny, he was killin that shizz. And now, beef up and hottify the vampire to the point of ridiculousness. Enter Colin Farrell as Jerry, the next door vampire. His sexual appeal (not to me necessarily…) and his sarcastic charm made him a perfect fit for this film. Seducing Charley’s mom (Toni Collette) was a different story.Trying to convince the world of a vampire that will kill you if you don’t play by its weaknesses was a great aspect to this film. (Just like in Orphan. Watch it and you’ll understand.)
...On pushing it that he did well in this movie...
…But going to see your childhood hero and finding him to be a fraud is not. This leads me to say that the second half (and only part of the first half) of this movie was disappointing. I need to talk about this because this chews at me. David Tennant may be a fantastic Doctor on Dr. Who. But I really hope anyone who saw this film for him realizes that he was terrible in this movie. He is typecast forever as a quirky, know-it-all character… like Dr. Who. I don’t watch Dr. Who. And, taking David Tennant’s acting in this film, it was lackluster. Below par. I’m sad to say that when I had heard rumors he was going to play The Riddler in the new Batman movie that I can’t wait to miss. Too bad, so sad. Truly.
I don't think you can defend yourself, little Miss Poots.
So Anton Yelchin goes to find Peter Vincent (Dr. Who) in order to get an expert’s help with his vampire problem. He’s a sham and swears and drinks all the time. He can’t help save the damsel and needs some convincing in order for the final showdown. And I won’t ruin the ending, but movie writers or whoever decides this has to stop assuming that you can call something a vampire and then say its not and call it some succubus subhuman ground creature. Not true. It’s not a vampire is it? And yet it follows all the same laws of defeating a vampire? Make up your minds…
Bring it on, Anton.
All-in-all, the only bright lights in this dark vampire world were Anton Yelchin(sort of) and Chris Mintz-Plasse. If they had focused on their friendship and not unnecessarily focused on Imogen Pootz, the dud. (this girl has been in 28 Weeks Later, the failed sequel, and Jane Eyre. Bet she wasn’t good in either…) I don’t understand the high school mood they were going for, and a lot of the lines and cinematography fell flat for me. A little more of a dynamic, over the top approach to this horror comedy may have brough out that comedy, because it was lost on me. 4 out of 10.
The time has come to talk of things. Of films that are the best of Comic Kings. And yes, this movie has wings. I am now ready to beamingly review The 40 Year Old Virgin, my favorite of all comedies. A close second is Dumb & Dumber, followed by Meet The Spartans. But more about that later.
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