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The 40 Year Old Virgin – Pure Gold

I am not one for hyperbole but “The 40 Year Old Virgin,” is 850 kajillion times funnier than “Wedding Crashers.” In fact, it may be the funniest move ever committed to film.

O.K., let me scale it back a bit and say that I found this movie to be as funny as “There’s Something About Mary,” which means it could easily earn a spot on my list of funniest movies of all time.

The premise is this: Andy Stitzer (Steve Carrell), a stock room employee at an electronics department store, is 40 years old and he is a virgin. He’s a nice guy who just gave up on the whole “love” thing when it became too embarrassing and too intimidating to keep pursuing women. When his fellow employees, who soon become his friends, find out the truth about Andy, they try to help him with his problem. Their help is hilarious and quite often raunchy, but Andy finds the solution to his problem when he begins to date Trish, a divorcee with kids who is almost as fragile as Andy is.

There are times when this movie is very sweet and kind of wholesome, but for the most part, “The 40 Year Old Virgin” romps wildly within the bounds of its R rating. There are curse words galore and adult themes, as well as partial nudity. Most importantly though, there are thousands of laughs, big belly laughs that leave one’s throat hoarse and sides aching. This is because the script by Carrell and director Judd Apatow makes the right choices at every turn, while the casting is impeccable from Carrell, who appears more than ready to break out into being a solid leading man, to his friends, especially David and Cal, played by Paul Rudd and Seth Rogen respectively. Rudd has proven himself to be a valuable member of any ensemble comedy and Rogen has been an Apatow favorite, appearing in both of his tragically short-lived sit-coms “Freaks and Geeks” and “Undeclared.”

Catherine Keener also does a great job in the film as Andy’s love interest, Trish. In the past Keener has played tough as nails characters and her guarded but emotionally available character in this film is touching and a perfect balance to the other women that Andy meets in the film.

While this is a movie aimed at mature audiences, do not mistake this for an “American Pie” like sophomoric sex romp, nor is it a humiliation filled comedy like “Meet the Parents.” The audience roots for Andy to solve his problem the right way for him and the film’s overall message of waiting for the right person, even until marriage, is a message that nearly everyone can get behind.

No movie is perfect and this movie felt like a few scenes could have been trimmed down to make the overall movie a few minutes shorter, but audiences should be enjoying themselves enough throughout to not check their watches, waiting for the credits. If you like solid comedies and aren’t put off by very salty language, see this film and enjoy it. It’s easily the best comedy of the summer and it will quite possibly the best comedy of the year.

• ****