Steve Carrell on "The Daily Show" was absolutely hillarious.  His reports where always funny and original and you could tell he had a true knack for intelligent comedy.  Unfortunately, in my opinion, he never reall re-captured that same type of humor on a big screen.  Though I enjoyed both "Anchorman" and "Bruce Almighty," I always thought both films fell completely flat whenever Carrell was on screen.

So, does "40 Year-Old Virgin," Carrell's first starring role, change this on-going trend?

...

Yes... and no.

Andy is the title character, and, as such, acts exactly how you would expect a 40 year-old virgin to act.  He lives in a small apartment loaded with video games, action figures (still in their original packaging), and a very interesting chair that is every video game junkie's wet dream.  So, when he is invited to an all-guy game of poker with some of his co-workers, it is no surprise that the topic turns towards sex.  And from there, it is no surprise that Andy's virginity is found out.

Immeadiately, his co-workers (played by Paul Rudd, Romany Malco, and Seth Rogan) set out to get Andy laid.  This of course leads to many funny (and some not so funny) encounters with the opposite sex.

What makes "Virgin" work is a mix between its cast and its heart.  Backed up by a great cast loaded with wonderful character actors, "Freaks & Geeks" creator and first-time director Judd Apatow must have just been giving these guys scenarios to act out all on their own.  Rudd, Malco, and Rogan each do a great job with their characters.  These are real people and there is no one part where you will be thinking these guys are just reciting lines that where written on paper.

Add to the characters a great heart, and this movie becomes a bit more deep than you would expect a movie titled "The 40 Year-Old Virgin" to have.  Most of this can be attributed to the great chemistry between Carrell and his leading lady, Catherine Keener.  Their on-screen relationship is not only funny, but, like the four co-workers, they again come off as real, everday people.  This actually not only lends credibility to the film, but also makes the comedy even better.

Then there's Carrell himself.  Fortunately and unfortunately, we get mixed results.  I would say it's proabably 60/40 funny.  When he's good, he's really good and some of his lines and actions will have you laughing far after the punchline has been delivered.  In that respect, he has once again captured his humor as seen in earlier episodes of "The Daily Show."  Unfortunately, as seen in "Anchorman" and "Bruce Almighty," when he falters, he crashes.  Scenes where he screams nonsense for roughly fifteen minutes of screen time can have you wanting to tear your hair out in sockets.

Still, though, this one defiantly works more than it fails.  I would say this one is on par with the likes of "Anchorman" and "Almighty."  But I still think "Wedding Crashers" is the best comedy this year.  Unfortunately, like "Crashers," "Virgin" suffers for one other reason: a far too long running-time.  Clocking in at two hours, this one is a bit too long for its own good.  But, like "Crashers," it can still be extremely funny while at the same time show us that the R-rated comedy is certainly not dead.

*** out of ****

Thought it was 100% pure shit! Paul Rudd is the only redeeming factor in this movie and the other guy with the beard and tattoo's... Otherwise this movie was a complete and tottal waste of time.

It was seldom funny on the main characters part, it was always his friends who were funny and I found this to be true in Napoleon Dynamite aswell... he wasn't funny either, it was all the people around him that was.

Why is this?

That guy with the tattoos and beard is none other than Seth Rogen, of Freaks and Geeks/Undeclared. He's hilarious and I probably wouldn't have enjoyed the movie half as much as I did without him.

I also enjoyed the Undeclared references.

I watched the 40 year old virgin the other day and I thought  that it was hilarous it was so funny from being to end except at the end it was more serius than the first so if you have seen it write back soon.

I didn't think that it was that great, except for the scene in the ebay store, wehere that fat kid wants to buy the goldfish shoes.  I could not stop laughing at that.  Or at the end when he is dancing in a poncho to "age of aquarius".

other than that it wasn't terrible, but it was definetely lacking.  I think it was better than anchorman by far though.  (I guess that shows you how stupid I thought anchorman was then.)

This movie was 100% funny.  Had me laughing the entire time.  Steve Carrell at his finest.