The 40 Year-Old Virgin film review

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THE 40 YEAR-OLD VIRGIN

The title of The 40 Year-Old Virgin says it all: in this broad Hollywood comedy Steve Carell plays Andy Stitzer, a middle-aged man for who the joy of sex remains a well-thumbed paperback. Andy is an ageing ubergeek, living alone with his collection of toys, and whose interests remain firmly that of a teenager: video games, Survivor (the tv show not the band), and electronics, which is handy for his job as a repairman at the local hi-fi store. What's missing from Andy's life is the love of a good woman, and after some embarrassing forays into the world of sex as a younger man, he has banished the female of the species from his thoughts.

This proves to be a little more difficult than expected considering that Andy's workplace is a hothouse of lust. He has a predatory female boss as well as three best friends who discover the painful secret that he has never had a close encounter of the female kind. The trio make it their quest to break Andy's duck, and force him on a variety of dates, take him to clubs, and set him on a speed-dating challenge. But none of this works for the sheepish Andy: at the first sign of physical contact he runs back to his Fantastic Four collection.

Inevitably, a woman does enter his life in the shape of Trish (Catherine Keener), a sexy young grandmother who has problems of her own dealing with her precocious daughter. Despite several promising dates Andy still has one big problem: how to tell the woman he is falling for that he has never had sex.

There's quite a lot to enjoy in this directorial debut from Judd Apatow, a longtime writer and producer whose credits range from The Larry Sanders Show to Anchorman. Indeed, fans of Anchorman will recognize Carell as Brick Tamland, the weatherman unable to spout anything besides gibberish (digital tv viewers may also know him as the boss of the American version of The Office). It's a good concept, and the comedy often reflects the old school style of 80s films such as Porky's.

Although there are few scenes that are laugh out loud funny, there's plenty to keep the audience smiling as Andy's ridiculous situation becomes more and more embarrassing. A strong cast supports Carell, with Keener as dependable as ever, and the trio of Paul Rudd, Romany Malco and Seth Rogen providing most of the light relief as his horny colleagues, whose well-meaning intentions invariably end in some kind of comic disaster.