Movies - The 40-Year-Old Virgin

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	Movies - The 40-Year-Old Virgin

The 40-Year-Old Virgin is a comedy film starring Steve Carell and directed by Judd Apatow, released on August 19, 2005. The film follows the attempts of Andy Stitzer (Carell), a 40-year-old man, to have his first sexual relationship with a woman.

The movie, co-written by both Carell and Apatow, also stars Catherine Keener and Paul Rudd. It features Nancy Walls, Carell's wife, in a small role.

Plot summary

Taglines: Better late than never. and The longer you wait, the harder it gets.

Andy Stitzer is a 40-year-old man who lives by himself with a comfortable, albeit dull life, including a good job as an inventory clerk at an electronics store, and a vast collection of action figures that are decades old. His three co-workers and friends discover that he is, in fact, a virgin, over a game of cards held in the store without the boss' permission. His three friends are surprised at this news, despite having an appealing, albeit shy and quiet personality, and being quite handsome. Determined to help their friend embark on the journey to manhood, like getting drunk and scoring with drunk babes, Andy's about to go on a perilous journey that he hadn't expected. As a result of this, he meets Trish Piedmont (Catherine Keener) a single mother (and grandmother) who just might be right for Andy.

Reaction

Based on an early review, Ebert & Roeper gave the film two thumbs up with Roger Ebert saying "I was surprised by how funny, how sweet, and how wise the movie really is" and "the more you think about it, the better The 40-Year-Old Virgin gets." However, there are minor criticisms: "the way she (Catherine Keener as "Trish") empathizes with is almost too sweet to be funny" - Roger Ebert and "I think it's a little too long" - Richard Roeper. Roeper awarded the movie as the tenth best of 2005.

The film ended up being one of the best reviewed comedies of 2005 with an 84.2% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

In December 2005, the film was chosen by the American Film Institute as one of the 10 greatest movies of the year, being not only among acclaimed favorites like King Kong
, Brokeback Mountain
, and Good Night, and Good Luck, but is the only actual comedy to have made the list (though some may consider The Squid and the Whale
to be a comedy, it is considered a drama as well).

Box office success

The film opened at #1 ($21.4 million) at the box office, and repeating a #1 box office the following weekend. According to Box Office Mojo, the film earned about $109.4 million domestically in a 17-week release and about $66.5 million internationally, for a total of approximately $176 million worldwide. The film earned 17th place over all of 2005, as of January 3, 2006.

Trivia

This is Steve Carell's first starring role in a feature film. His previous credits were as supporting characters (interestingly both newsmen) in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
as a dimwitted weatherman, and Bruce Almighty
as an arrogant rival to Jim Carrey
.
Steve Carell was filmed actually having his chest waxed. He is actually screaming those lines with no preparation. There were four cameras set up to capture the scene. Carell wanted the movie to have a realistic feel on love and life. He also added excessive language to his genuine reactions ("ahhhh Kelly Clarkson"), sending his co-stars (including the waxer) into convulsive laughter.
Additional scenes had to be filmed for the trailer, since so many of the film's actual scenes contain strong language.
In January 2006, both Carell and director/co-writer Judd Apatow were nominated by the Writer's Guild of America for Best Original Screenplay, alongside Good Night, and Good Luck, The Squid and the Whale
, Cinderella Man
, and Crash.
This film was originally rated NC-17 but was changed back to R on an appeal.
The film was released three days after Carell's 42nd birthday.
The film makes extensive use of Ventura Boulevard in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles. The electronics store, for example, is located on Ventura in Tarzana; the bike accident sequence was filmed on Ventura Place, just west of Laurel Canyon in Studio City; and Delmonico's Lobster House on Ventura in Encino was also used for one of Andy's dates.
The Smart Tech store is a play on the retail stores Circuit City and Future Shop, utilizing the similarities in their uniforms, floor layout, and exteriors.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for The 40-Year-Old Virgin ]

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