THE 40-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN — *** 1/2 — Steve Carell, Catherine Keener, Romany Malco; rated R (vulgarity, profanity, sex, nudity, slapstick violence, drugs, brief gore, racial epithets); see Page W2 for theaters.
At nearly two full hours, "The 40-Year-Old Virgin," like "Wedding Crashers," is a bit too long. And like "Wedding Crashers," "Virgin" is an R-rated comedy that unabashedly embraces its excesses.
One difference, however, is that this film manages to sustain its laughs for the entire film, and when it takes the expected turn toward sweetness and sentimentality, it does so with such forcefulness, with such conviction, that you believe in it.
Still, "Virgin" is extremely raunchy and crude, and preoccupied with all things sexual. Think "There's Something About Mary" magnified tenfold — or maybe a hundredfold. But this just might be the funniest comedy to come along since "Mary."
The title character is Andy Stitzer (Steve Carell, who also co-wrote the script). Andy is a stockroom manager at an electronics store, whose bachelor pad is filled with action figures, comic books and video games.
That, among other things, explains how Andy wound up in his supposed "predicament." And during a poker game, he admits to his co-workers — womanizer Jay (Romany Malco), obsessed-with-his-ex David (Paul Rudd) and stoner Cal (Seth Rogen) — that he's still a virgin. So it becomes their goal to "cure" Andy.
However, Andy is less concerned about it, especially since he has begun dating Trish (Catherine Keener), a single mother who insists on taking their time with the physical side of the relationship.
Much of the film's success depends on the chemistry between Carell, who until now has played second-bananas, and Keener, who usually plays cynical and sometimes unpleasant characters. But both are genuinely likable here and their on-screen relationship works very well.
Co-screenwriter/director Judd Apatow (TV's "Ben Stiller Show" and "The Larry Sanders Show") has a heyday with this material, which features a musical number and a cringe-inducing yet very funny chest-waxing scene — the film's genuinely classic comic sequence.
Apatow also makes sure everyone in the cast gets a moment to shine. The revelations in that regard are relatively unknown Malco and Elizabeth Banks, the latter memorable as a slinky, sexually aggressive bookstore employee whom Andy pursues.
"The 40-Year-Old Virgin" is rated R for pervasive crude sexual humor and references, as well as some bodily function jokes, frequent use of strong sexual profanity, simulated sex and other sexual contact, some female and partial male nudity, slapstick violence, drug content (marijuana use), some brief gore, and use of some racial epithets. Running time: 116 minutes.
E-mail: jeff@desnews.com