There's a scene in the movie that still makes me laugh every time I think about it. This is the one where Carell's character goes to get his chest waxed. When I saw the film in the theater, I assumed some sort of special effects were being used, but the DVD makes it clear that they're doing it for real. It must have been painful for Carell, who has a lot of hair on his chest, and he understandably lets fly with a series of obscenities. But amid those swear words, he at one point cries, "Kelly Clarkson!"
Carell plays Andy, a lonely, socially awkward collector of action figures who is 40 years old. He is employed at an electronics store where his coworkers, who are even more dysfunctional than he is, get on his case because he is still a virgin. They try to arrange ways for him to lose his virginity, but all turn out to be comically unsuitable. Eventually, Andy gets to know the sympathetic Trish (Catherine Keener), a good-looking grandma who runs a shop where she sells people's stuff on eBay, and he gradually comes to feel comfortable with her.
But for me, the most memorable thing about The 40-Year-Old Virgin are some of its scenes. One of these is the wacky speed dating at an event called "Date-a-Palooza." Another is where Andy has worlds of trouble dealing with condoms. A third involves Andy taking Trish's teenage daughter to a sex education session at a family planning clinic.
Steve Carell has had a busy career as an actor, and TV fans may know him from the series The Office. However, The 40-Year-Old Virgin has given him his first starring role on the big screen. Also, the film marks the feature directorial debut of Judd Apatow, although television enthusiasts may recognize his name from The Larry Sanders Show and Freaks and Geeks. In addition to their other efforts on Virgin, Apatow and Carell co-wrote the screenplay. I'm looking forward to seeing more movie work by these two men in the future.
The feature film I watched on DVD was about 16 or 17 minutes longer than the one I saw on the big screen, and I believe the primary reason the additional footage was not included in the theatrical version was that the film is long for a comedy. The theatrical version was rated R by the MPAA for pervasive sexual content, language and some drug use, while the extended version on DVD has not gone through the MPAA rating process.
But the DVD containing the unrated version of The 40-Year-Old Virgin provides two bonus materials that are slightly on the naughty side. One of these is "Andy's Fantasy," where the film's title character fantasizes about women, including one played by Stormy—who has appeared in porn movies—shown in full-frontal nudity. The other is "My Dinner With Stormy," where actor and co-producer Seth Rogen sips sparkling wine with Stormy while she shows him a tattoo on her bosom. I found both of these extras pretty funny.
Other DVD extras include: (i) deleted scenes; (ii) actors Seth Rogen and Paul Rudd doing the "You Know How I Know You're Gay?" scene for five-and-a-half minutes; and (iii) "Cal & Paula," a hilarious interchange between actors Rogen and Jane Lynch. All these can optionally be played with audio commentary by Apatow and Rogen. Also, there are other bonus materials: (1) Mooj, played by Gerry Bednob, cataloguing kinky sexual practices for the virgin; (2) a behind-the-scenes look at Carell's chest being waxed; (3) over nine minutes of footage shot for the speed dating sequence; (4) "Line-O-Rama," which shows the cast doing variations of lines of dialogue; and (5) a gag reel. I got enough chuckles out of these extras to make it worth my while to watch them.
Also on DVD there's an audio commentary track featuring Judd Apatow (director and co-writer), Steve Carell (lead actor and co-writer) and seven supporting actors: Paul Rudd (David), Romany Malco (Jay), Seth Rogen (Cal), Leslie Mann (drunk girl), Jane Lynch (Paula), Gerry Bednob (Mooj) and Shelley Malil (Haziz). The commentary is a bit too unfocused for my taste, but I was interested in some of Apatow's remarks.
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