The 40-Year-Old Virgin
And then there is the cute sales clerk in the bookstore Andy encounters. Again, no specifics, but let me say this: The next time you go into a bookstore and a bookseller offers to help you, try not to laugh as reply, having seen this movie.
And then there is the dating round-robin, where a buzzer goes off after a few minutes and all parties involved are required to change partners. Although I have never personally taken part in a such an activity I am assured by those who have that the cliched pick-up lines resulting ring true.
Finally, there is Trish (Catherine Keener), who runs a store across the mall from where Andy works. The basics of her business are rather simple: You take her your stuff and she sells it on EBay. Andy is taken by her, to the point he cannot speak because of fear and shyness. The way in which she gets him to ask her out is but one example of why this movie goes to show how the Hollywood Machine is on the road to recovery, the road to success once more.
Andy's buddies are almost perfectly cast. David (Paul Rudd) is still in love with a woman who has long since outgrown any possible interest in him. Jay (Romany Malco) is the sort who considers himself God's gift to women--although he really isn't, never has been, and probably will never be. Cal (Seth Rogen), relatively-speaking, is the practical one of the group: He tells Andy to date drunks, never actually say anything to a woman, just ask questions, and do what he has always done: Work around anything you don't directly understand.
Brilliant. Honest. And funny. Because in the end, it seems, Andy comes to know more than any of them.
Superficially "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" comes across as a mean-spirited collection of tired and time-worn cliches. Superficially this is true. But accept these cliches as having purpose and intent when it comes to matters of the heart and find there is more to this movie. Much more.
Of course the real reason all of this works owes much to Steve Carell and Catherine Keener, who have a very unique and special chemistry that director Judd Apatow, who produced "Anchorman" knows how to utilize and exploit appropriately by way of the screenplay credited to Apatow and Carell, who began cutting his comedic teeth with Second City and a skit created
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