The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005)

Directed by Judd Apatow. Starring Steve Carell, Catherine Keener, Romany Falco, Paul Rudd, Seth Rogen, Jane Lynch, Elizabeth Banks, Kat Dennings, Gerry Bednob, Leslie Mann, Marika Domińczyk. [R]

The title gives it away—this raunchy rom-com is, indeed, about a shy but sweet forty-year-old man named Andy (Carell) who’s never had sex before. His co-worker friends are initially shocked by this revelation, but after some good-natured ribbing, they decide it is their mission to finally get him laid. Then Andy meets a single woman he really likes (Keener, playing a MILF who turns out to be a GILF), but will his hesitation and nervousness blow an opportunity for true love (and all the physical pleasures that come with it)? Judd Apatow’s feature directing debut lacks discipline on its ambling path toward the finish line (and you know what that finish line will be), but it’s also frequently hilarious, and boasts a wonderful lead character brought to detailed life by the perfectly-cast Carell—he’s the butt of a lot of jokes, but they’re rarely mean-spirited, and we like him and we root for him. Bursting with comic talent from rising stars, pretty much everyone gets at least a few moments to shine, from Paul Rudd’s deadpan one-liners (“You look like a man-o-lantern,” “Nothing against [Michael McDonald], but if I hear ‘Yah Mo B There’ one more time, I’m going to ‘Yah Mo’ burn this place to the ground”) to Jane Lynch singing a “beautiful old Guatemalan love song” and warning, “I am very discreet, but I’ll haunt your dreams.” Carell and Apatow collaborated on the script, although a good amount of the dialogue was ad-libbed. Famous faces who appear in minor roles include Jonah Hill, David Koechner, Loudon Wainwright III, Kevin Hart, and Carell’s real-life wife, Nancy Walls.

83/100