The 40-Year-Old Virgin

Deadpan The Daily Show correspondent Steve Carell—who briefly but memorably upstaged Will Ferrell in Anchorman and Jim Carrey in Bruce Almighty—makes his leading man debut here as Andy, a king-dork electronics store clerk so bereft of social skills that although he's rapidly approaching middle age, he's never managed to get much past first base with a woman. When his jokester co-workers realize this, they make it their mission to get the poor guy laid. In a welcome change from puerile and stinking-rotten Rob Schneider and David Spade movies, filmmaker Judd Apatow's The 40-Year-Old Virgin is a ribald comedy that is genuinely laugh-out-loud funny and character-driven, despite being custom-built around a scene-stealing second-banana who really belongs in smaller roles (although the plot is perfectly pitched to Carell's talent for playing hapless, hopeless twits). Unfortunately, the movie is at its dullest when Andy actually enters a sloppy, underwritten romance with a single mom (Catherine Keener) whose inexplicable attraction to our hero is never remotely explained. But since the clever, off-kilter, off-color guffaws just keep coming, the film remains sidesplitting in spite of its fundamental flaws. Recommended, overall. [Note: Available in either unrated widescreen or full screen versions, or a R rated full screen version, DVD extras on the unrated extended edition (which adds 17 minutes) include an audio commentary (by director/co-writer Judd Apatow, star and co-writer Steve Carell, and other crew members), six deleted scenes with optional commentary (13 min.), a nine-minute “Date-A-Palooza” extended speed dating scene, the seven-minute “Line-O-Rama” montage of alternate jokes from different scenes, “You Know How I Know You're Gay?” extended version of the scene with optional commentary (6 min.), a five-minute gag reel (5 min,) the “Waxing Doc” behind-the-scenes featurette from the waxing scene (4 min.), “Cal & Paula” extended scene with optional commentary (3 min.), “Andy's Fantasies” with optional commentary (2 min.), “Advice from Mooj” (2 min.), the two-minute segment “My Dinner with Stormy” featuring costar/co-producer Seth Rogen having dinner with adult film star Stormy Daniels (2 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: a fine extras package for one of 2005's surprise comedy hits.] (R. Blackwelder)[DVD Review—May 29, 2007—Universal, 2 discs, 133 min., not rated, $24.98—Making its second appearance on DVD, 2005's The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2-Disc Double Your Pleasure Edition) sports an excellent transfer and Dolby Digital 5.1 sound. DVD extras new to this two-disc set include director Judd Apatow's “Judd's Video Diary” (21 min.), a Comedy Central “Reel Comedy Roundtable” segment featuring Apatow, star Steve Carell, and costars Paul Rudd, Romany Malco, and Seth Rogen (21 min.), 16 more deleted scenes (20 min.), 20 minutes of “Raw Footage” with unedited takes of Carell, Cinemax's “Final Cut” interview with the cast (13 min.), seven audition tapes (8 min.), a 1970s sex ed film (6 min.), five minutes of rehearsals for the poker scene, and trailers. Bottom line: a whopping extras package for a popular comedy.][Blu-ray Review—Oct. 14, 2008—Universal, 117 min., R, $29.98—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 2005's The 40-Year-Old-Virgin features a decent transfer and a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack. Blu-ray extras are almost identical to the previous DVD release, including both the theatrical and unrated cuts of the film, an audio commentary (by director/co-writer Judd Apatow, star and co-writer Steve Carell, and other crew members), six deleted scenes with optional commentary (13 min.), a nine-minute “Date-A-Palooza” extended speed dating scene, the seven-minute “Line-O-Rama” montage of alternate jokes from different scenes, “You Know How I Know You're Gay?” extended version of the scene with optional commentary (6 min.), a five-minute gag reel (5 min,) the “Waxing Doc” behind-the-scenes featurette from the waxing scene (4 min.), “Cal & Paula” extended scene with optional commentary (3 min.), “Andy's Fantasies” with optional commentary (2 min.), “Advice from Mooj” (2 min.), the two-minute segment “My Dinner with Stormy” featuring costar/co-producer Seth Rogen having dinner with adult film star Stormy Daniels (2 min.), and trailers. Also included are the extras from the “2-Disc Double Your Pleasure Edition,” which included Apatow's “Judd's Video Diary” (21 min.), a Comedy Central “Reel Comedy Roundtable” segment featuring Apatow, Carell, and costars Paul Rudd, Romany Malco, and Rogen (21 min.), 16 more deleted scenes (20 min.), 20 minutes of “Raw Footage” with unedited takes of Carell, Cinemax's “Final Cut” interview with the cast (13 min.), seven audition tapes (8 min.), a 1970s sex ed film (6 min.), five minutes of rehearsals for the poker scene, and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release is a picture-in-picture option featuring interactive cast and crew interviews and behind-the-scenes footage viewable during the film. Bottom line: this one definitely belongs in a budding BD contemporary comedy collection.]