FilmBlather.com

"Are you familiar with the term 'fuckbuddy'?"

The 40 Year-Old Virgin is what happens when a vulgar sensibility meets keen intelligence. It's a very funny film, but more than that, it's a striking example of comedy craft -- heartfelt and sweet, using every tool at its disposal, including a spectacular supporting cast that runs about three layers deep. Star Steve Carrell, who co-wrote the film with director Judd Apatow, turns low-brow humor into high art; never has the random shouting of curses been so funny. I was afraid I would hurt myself.

Carrell spent a long time as a regular on The Daily Show, and has had a couple of gimmicky movie roles in the likes of Anchorman and Bruce Almighty. The 40 Year-Old Virgin should propel him to a new level of stardom. He has been compared to Will Ferrell, with whom he's worked, but while he shares some aspects of the Anchorman star's quirky, non sequitur sense of humor, he is leagues beyond him in comedy. There is no way Ferrell could carry a film the way Carrell does here without resorting to his penchant for self-humiliation and bland physical antics to get a laugh.

The virgin in question, Carrell's Andy Stitzer, is not a caricature or a cruel joke. He's awkward and socially inept, yes, but not to the point of absurdity, and I suspect that most people will find some aspects of his M.O. familiar, if exaggerated. The film makes fun of him, but it does so with obvious affection and concern; it wishes him well, and has no desire to see him humiliated unnecessarily. When he is embarrassed, the movie seems to encourage us not to laugh, but to shrink away, and usually we do both; it's a measure of both how skilled The 40 Year-Old Virgin is at drawing out laughs, and how much the title character has grown on us.

After discovering Andy's secret, three of his co-workers (Paul Rudd, Romany Malco and Seth Rogen) take it upon themselves to end his celibate streak. I love the way the movie goes about this; their treatment of poor Andy isn't hateful or meanspirited, and like the film, they wish him well and want to see him happy. And if that involves inadvertently hiring a transvestite prostitute, well, they had the best intentions at heart. The manager at the electronics store where they work (Jane Lynch) has a different solution to Andy's dilemma, involving, at one point, Guatemalan love songs.

There's a love interest, a mother of three named Trish and played by the luminous Catherine Keener. As Andy enters into a tentative relationship with her but doesn't reveal his secret, it's remarkable how their scenes have actual weight; not everything is played for laughs, and the way she reacts to his fears, insecurities and eccentricities is plausible and touching. There are some rather predictable misunderstandings in the last act, but they don't feel like contrivances to provide false conflict, and the way they play out is touching and sweet; listen to the empathy in Keener's voice as she absorbs Andy's revelation, and consider what the scene doesn't do.

One scene in The 40 Year-Old Virgin sent me into hysterics, and it was the last scene I expected to rise above the rest. It is featured prominently in the trailer -- the inevitable scene where Andy, in an attempt to make himself more appealing to the opposite sex, goes to get his chest waxed. Rumor has it that Carrell actually put himself through the process to film it, which would explain the seemingly spontaneous torrent of profanity that pours from him with every rip. If this doesn't sound funny, trust me; what makes it a masterpiece instead of just pointless, predictable vulgarity, I think, is that the profanity isn't a general scream of pain and frustration, but is directed at the waxer. "YOU BITCH!" yelled Andy, and I was pretty much done for.

This movie could have been a lot of things, some of them awful. The gimmick certainly did not ensure quality. But man, it's a wonderful film, directed with endless energy and written with a sharp wit. The screenplay contains some of the utterly random humor that characterizes Ferrell's films, among others, but even the seeming randomness winds up vaguely relevant in hindsight; consider the final sequence, which is bizarre beyond all reason but really, doesn't it strike the perfect end note? The 40 Year-Old Virgin is one of the best films of the year, and proof that great comedy is at least on par with more serious endeavors.

--Eugene Novikov