The 40-Year-Old Virgin is a 2005 American
buddyThe buddy film is a film genre in which two people of the same sex are paired. The two often contrast in personality, which creates a different dynamic onscreen than a pairing of two people of the opposite sex. The contrast is sometimes accentuated by an ethnic difference between the two...
comedy filmComedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
about a middle-aged man's journey to finally have sex. The film was written and directed by
Judd ApatowJudd Apatow is an American film producer, director, and screenwriter. He is well known for his work in comedy films, especially for films he has been involved with throughout the latter half of the 2000s. He is the founder of Apatow Productions, a film production company that also developed the...
and co-written by its lead star,
Steve CarellSteven John "Steve" Carell is an American comedian, actor, voice artist, producer, writer, and director. Although Carell is notable for his role on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, he found greater fame in the late 2000s for playing Michael Scott on The Office...
, though the film itself features a great deal of improvised dialogue. The film received its general
North AmericaNorth America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
n theatrical release on August 19, 2005 and was released on region 1 DVD on December 13, 2005.
Plot
Andy Stitzer (
Steve CarellSteven John "Steve" Carell is an American comedian, actor, voice artist, producer, writer, and director. Although Carell is notable for his role on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, he found greater fame in the late 2000s for playing Michael Scott on The Office...
) is the eponymous 40-year-old virgin. He lives alone, collects action figures, plays video games, and his social life seems to consist of watching
SurvivorSurvivor is a reality television game show format produced in many countries throughout the world. In the show, contestants are isolated in the wilderness and compete for cash and other prizes. The show uses a system of progressive elimination, allowing the contestants to vote off other tribe...
with his elderly neighbors. He works in the stockroom at an electronics store called SmartTech. When a friend drops out of a poker game, Andy's co-workers David (
Paul RuddPaul Stephen Rudd is an American actor and screenwriter. He has primarily appeared in comedies, and is known for his roles in the films Clueless, Wet Hot American Summer, Anchorman, Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Dinner for Schmucks, The Object of My...
), Cal (
Seth RogenSeth Rogen is a Canadian stand-up comedian, actor, producer, screenwriter, and voice artist. Rogen began his career doing stand-up comedy during his teen years, winning the Vancouver Amateur Comedy Contest in 1998. While still living in his native Vancouver, he landed a small part in Freaks and...
), and Jay (
Romany MalcoRomany Romanic Malco, Jr. is an American actor and music producer. He has been nominated for several awards, including an NAACP Image Award, MTV Movie Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award. Malco portrayed Conrad Shepard on the Showtime series Weeds. He most recently played George St...
) reluctantly invite Andy to join them. At the game, when conversation turns to past sexual exploits, Andy desperately makes up a story, but admits his virginity when he compares the feel of a woman's breast to a "bag of sand". Feeling sorry for him (but also generally mocking him), the group resolves to help Andy lose his virginity.
Throughout the next several days, the gang’s efforts prove to be unsuccessful, partly because all three men give Andy different and sometimes contradictory advice. Later, Cal advises Andy to simply ask questions when talking to women, which makes Andy seem mysterious. His advice proves to be the most helpful, when Beth (
Elizabeth BanksElizabeth Maresal Mitchell , known professionally as Elizabeth Banks, is an American actress. Banks had her film debut in the low-budget independent film Surrender Dorothy...
), a bookstore clerk, takes a liking to Andy. Andy starts to open up, and begins to form true friendships with his co-workers. David continues to obsess over his ex-girlfriend, Amy (
Mindy KalingVera Mindy Chokalingam , better known as Mindy Kaling, is an American actress, comedian, writer and producer who plays Kelly Kapoor on the NBC sitcom The Office. Kaling is also a co-executive producer and writer of several of the show's episodes.-Early life:Kaling was born Vera Chokalingam in...
). After meeting her unexpectedly during a speed-dating event attended by the group, he has an emotional breakdown while making a sale and is subsequently sent home by store manager Paula (
Jane LynchJane Marie Lynch is an American comedian, actress and singer. She gained fame in Christopher Guest's improv mockumentary pictures such as Best in Show and is currently best known for playing the role of Sue Sylvester in the television series Glee...
), who promotes Andy to fill in for him. Jay, seeing Andy's continued reluctance to approach female customers, attempts to force the issue by hiring Andy a
prostituteProstitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
. When Andy discovers that Jay has inadvertently hired a
transvestiteTransvestism is the practice of cross-dressing, which is wearing clothing traditionally associated with the opposite sex. Transvestite refers to a person who cross-dresses; however, the word often has additional connotations. -History:Although the word transvestism was coined as late as the 1910s,...
, he is prompted to confront his friends, and tells them that he is taking matters into his own hands. Andy lands a date with Trish Piedmont (
Catherine KeenerCatherine Ann Keener is an American actress. She has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Being John Malkovich and Capote...
), a woman he met on the sales floor who owns a store across the street. After Andy and Trish's first date, in which they are interrupted by Trish’s teenage daughter Marla (
Kat DenningsKatherine Litwack , better known by the stage name Kat Dennings, is an American actress. Emerging with a role in an episode of the HBO dramedy series Sex and the City, Dennings has since appeared in the films The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Big Momma's House 2, Charlie Bartlett, Raise Your Voice, The House...
) as they are about to have sex, Andy decides to tell Trish he is a virgin. Before he can tell her, Trish suggests that they postpone having sex, to which Andy enthusiastically agrees; they decide they won’t have sex until their twentieth date. Meanwhile, Paula is impressed by Andy's salesmanship and promotes him to floor manager.
As Andy draws closer to his twentieth date with Trish, his friends begin to deal with the consequences of their lifestyles. David, still spiraling in his obsession with Amy, has become disillusioned with sex and has taken a vow of celibacy, prompting Cal to lure him out by hiring an attractive young woman named Bernadette (
Marika Dominczyk-Personal:Dominczyk moved with her family from Kielce, Poland, to New York City when she was three, after her parents were expelled from their native Poland for her father's involvement with Amnesty International and then the Solidarity movement....
) to work in the stockroom. After overreacting during an argument with an obnoxious customer (
Kevin HartKevin Hart is an American actor and stand-up comedian.-Early life and career:Hart was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was raised by his single mother...
), Jay reveals that his girlfriend Jill broke up with him after learning he has been cheating on her. Andy comforts Jay, who says that sex can ruin a relationship. However, Jill later decides to take Jay back after learning she is pregnant. Andy and Trish’s relationship grows, and Trish suggests that Andy sell his collectible action figures in order to raise enough money to open his own store. When they finally reach the twentieth date, Andy is still reluctant and resists Trish, upsetting her. An argument ensues, in which Andy accuses Trish of pushing him into changing his life against his will, and Andy leaves for the nightclub where Jay is celebrating his girlfriend’s pregnancy. He quickly gets drunk, and after running into Beth, leaves for her apartment with her. Meanwhile, David finally relinquishes his celibacy and hooks up with Bernadette, and Trish’s daughter Marla convinces her to go and make up with Andy.
By this time Andy has sobered up and, after witnessing Beth's methods of foreplay, he starts to have second thoughts. As Andy is leaving her bathroom, he finds his friends waiting outside, having followed to warn him about Beth and encourage him to go back to Trish. They leave together, and Andy returns to his apartment, where he finds Trish waiting for him. He attempts to apologize, but Trish, having found myriad suspicious belongings in his apartment, now thinks that Andy may be some sort of sexual deviant. Andy tries to convince her otherwise and declares his love for her, but she leaves in alarm and disgust. Andy chases after her on his bike but eventually runs headlong into the side of her car. Trish rushes to his side in concern, and he finally confesses to her that he is a virgin. She is surprised to learn that this is the reason behind his strange behavior, as she does not consider it to be important, and they kiss. Later, Andy and Trish are married in a lavish ceremony with everyone in attendance, with a sidelong mention of Andy's action figures having sold for approximately half a million dollars. Afterwards, they consummate their marriage. The film ends with an over-the-top musical scene in which the cast of the film sing and dance to "
Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In"Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In" is a medley of two songs written for the 1967 musical Hair by James Rado & Gerome Ragni , and Galt MacDermot , released as a single by The 5th Dimension. The song peaked at number one for six weeks on the U.S...
".
Cast
- Steve Carell
Steven John "Steve" Carell is an American comedian, actor, voice artist, producer, writer, and director. Although Carell is notable for his role on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, he found greater fame in the late 2000s for playing Michael Scott on The Office...
as Andy Stitzer
- Catherine Keener
Catherine Ann Keener is an American actress. She has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Being John Malkovich and Capote...
as Trish Piedmont
- Paul Rudd
Paul Stephen Rudd is an American actor and screenwriter. He has primarily appeared in comedies, and is known for his roles in the films Clueless, Wet Hot American Summer, Anchorman, Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Dinner for Schmucks, The Object of My...
as David
- Romany Malco
Romany Romanic Malco, Jr. is an American actor and music producer. He has been nominated for several awards, including an NAACP Image Award, MTV Movie Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award. Malco portrayed Conrad Shepard on the Showtime series Weeds. He most recently played George St...
as Jay
- Seth Rogen
Seth Rogen is a Canadian stand-up comedian, actor, producer, screenwriter, and voice artist. Rogen began his career doing stand-up comedy during his teen years, winning the Vancouver Amateur Comedy Contest in 1998. While still living in his native Vancouver, he landed a small part in Freaks and...
as Cal
- Jane Lynch
Jane Marie Lynch is an American comedian, actress and singer. She gained fame in Christopher Guest's improv mockumentary pictures such as Best in Show and is currently best known for playing the role of Sue Sylvester in the television series Glee...
as Paula
- Elizabeth Banks
Elizabeth Maresal Mitchell , known professionally as Elizabeth Banks, is an American actress. Banks had her film debut in the low-budget independent film Surrender Dorothy...
as Beth
- Leslie Mann
Leslie Mann is an American actress best known for her roles in comedic films, many of which are collaborations with her husband, Judd Apatow.-Early life:...
as Nicky
- Kat Dennings
Katherine Litwack , better known by the stage name Kat Dennings, is an American actress. Emerging with a role in an episode of the HBO dramedy series Sex and the City, Dennings has since appeared in the films The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Big Momma's House 2, Charlie Bartlett, Raise Your Voice, The House...
as Marla Piedmont
- Gerry Bednob
-Career:Gerry currently appears as Bling Bling Shelton in Free Radio on Vh1. He had a role in the 2010 film Furry Vengeance, with Brendan Fraser and Brooke Shields, playing Mr. Gupta. He is also the uncle of Michelle Jhagroo.- Filmography :...
as Mooj
- Shelley Malil
On August 11, 2008, Malil was arrested for attempted murder after he stabbed his ex-girlfriend, Kendra Beebe, 20 times the previous night in San Marcos, California. Beebe, a mother of two, resides in Carlsbad, California...
as Haziz
- Jonah Hill
Jonah Hill Feldstein , known professionally as Jonah Hill, is an American actor, producer, screenwriter, and comedian. Hill is best known roles for his roles in Superbad, Knocked Up, and Get Him to the Greek. He made his theatrical debut in I Heart Huckabees, alongside Jason Schwartzman and Dustin...
as eBayeBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...
Customer
- Marika Dominczyk
-Personal:Dominczyk moved with her family from Kielce, Poland, to New York City when she was three, after her parents were expelled from their native Poland for her father's involvement with Amnesty International and then the Solidarity movement....
as Bernadette
- Mindy Kaling
Vera Mindy Chokalingam , better known as Mindy Kaling, is an American actress, comedian, writer and producer who plays Kelly Kapoor on the NBC sitcom The Office. Kaling is also a co-executive producer and writer of several of the show's episodes.-Early life:Kaling was born Vera Chokalingam in...
as Amy
- Mo Collins
Maureen "Mo" Ann Collins is an American actress and comedian. Collins is perhaps best known for being a member of the ensemble on FOX's sketch comedy series MADtv. She became well known for several characters during her tenure on the show...
as Gina
- Stormy Daniels
Stormy Daniels , also known as Stormy Waters and simply Stormy, is an American pornographic actress, screenwriter, and director. She chose her stage name to reflect her love of Mötley Crüe, whose bassist, Nikki Sixx, named his daughter Storm...
as Porn Star
- Loudon Wainwright
Loudon Snowden Wainwright III is a Grammy Award-winning American songwriter, folk singer, humorist, and actor. He is the father of musicians Rufus Wainwright, Martha Wainwright and Lucy Wainwright Roche, brother of Sloan Wainwright, and the former husband of the late folk singer Kate McGarrigle.To...
as Priest
- Cedric Yarbrough
Cedric Yarbrough is an American comedian and actor.Yarbrough was born in Burnsville, Minnesota. Yarbrough attended Burnsville Senior High School and later Minnesota State University, Mankato. He is also an alumnus of Dudley Riggs' Brave New Workshop in Minneapolis.Yarbrough starred on the Comedy...
as Health Clinic Dad #1
- David Koechner
David Michael Koechner is an American comedian, musician, and character actor. Koechner began studying improvisational comedy in Chicago at the ImprovOlympic, under the teachings of Del Close, before joining the Second City Northwest...
as Health Clinic Dad #2
- Jeff Kahn
Jeffry Ned Kahn is a professor of mathematics at Rutgers University notable for his work in combinatorics. Kahn received his Ph.D from the Ohio State University in 1979 after completing his dissertation under his advisor Dwijendra Kumar Ray-Chaudhuri....
as Health Clinic Dad #3
- Kevin Hart
Kevin Hart is an American actor and stand-up comedian.-Early life and career:Hart was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was raised by his single mother...
as Smart Tech Customer
- Rose Abdoo
Rose M. Abdoo is an American actress and comedian, known for her roles as Stars Hollow's local mechanic Gypsy on Gilmore Girls and as Spanish teacher Señorita Rodriguez on That's So Raven.-Life and career:...
as Mother at Restaurant
- Jazzmun
Jazzmun is the stage name of Nichcalo Dion Crayton , an American actor and nightclub performer specializing in female impersonation in the Los Angeles area.-Background:...
as Prostitute Call Girl
- Nancy Carell as Health Clinic Counselor
- Wyatt Smith
Wyatt Smith is an American professional ice hockey player who is currently a free agent. He most recently played center with ERC Ingolstadt of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga.-Playing career:...
as Boy at Wedding
- Ann Christine as Kim
Critical reception
The 40-Year-Old Virgin was met with critical acclaim, with 85% of 160 critics giving it a "fresh" review on
Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
.
Ebert and Roeper gave the film a "two thumbs up" rating.
Roger EbertRoger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
said, "I was surprised by how funny, how sweet, and how wise the movie really is" and "the more you think about it, the better
The 40-Year-Old Virgin gets". The pair gave minor criticisms, with Ebert describing "the way she (Catherine Keener as 'Trish') empathizes with Andy" as "almost too sweet to be funny" and
Richard RoeperRichard E. Roeper is an American columnist and film critic for The Chicago Sun-Times and now a co-host on The Roe Conn Show on WLS-AM...
saying that the film was too long, and at times extremely frustrating. Roeper later chose the film as the tenth best of 2005.
Owen GleibermanOwen Gleiberman is an American film critic for Entertainment Weekly, a position he has held since the magazine's launch in 1990. From 1981–89, he worked at the Boston Phoenix....
of
Entertainment WeeklyEntertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
gave the movie an A-, saying that Carell "plays him [Andy] in the funniest and most surprising way possible: as a credible human being."
Manohla DargisManohla Dargis is a chief film critic for The New York Times, along with A.O. Scott. She was formerly a chief film critic for the Los Angeles Times, the film editor at the LA Weekly, and a film critic at The Village Voice. She has written for a variety of publications, including Film Comment and...
of
The New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
called the film a "charmingly bent comedy", noting that Carell conveys a "sheer likability" and a "range as an actor" that was "crucial to making this film work as well as it does."
The film was criticized by some
CatholicThe word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
s for promoting the message that there is something wrong with being a virgin, and by conservative columnist
Cal ThomasJohn Calvin "Cal" Thomas is an American conservative syndicated columnist, pundit, author and radio commentator.-Life and career:...
for not being a "tribute to self-control or purity".
In December 2005, the film was chosen by the
American Film InstituteThe American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
as one of the
ten best movies of the yearThe American Film Institute Awards 2005 honored the best 10 Movies and 10 Television Programs of the year.-Films:*The 40-Year-Old Virgin*Brokeback Mountain...
, the only comedy film to be so recognized (though the comedy-drama
The Squid and the WhaleThe Squid and the Whale is a 2005 American drama film written and directed by Noah Baumbach and produced by Wes Anderson. It tells the semi-autobiographical story of two boys in Brooklyn dealing with their parents' divorce in the 1980s. The film is named after a giant squid and sperm whale diorama...
was also chosen).
The film was also ranked No. 30 on Bravo's
100 Funniest Movies.
Box office
The film was a summer hit, and opened at No. 1 at the box office, grossing $21,422,815 on its opening weekend, and stayed at No. 1 the following weekend. The film grossed a total of $109,449,237 on the domestic market, and $67,929,408 overseas, for a total of $177,378,645. The film was 25th in global gross, and 19th in the United States that year.
Unrated edition
On home video the film was released with an additional 17 minutes under the banner "unrated". This longer cut was met with mixed reviews.
Disclaimer
The
American Humane AssociationThe American Humane Association is an organization founded in 1877 dedicated to the welfare of animals and children.The AHA's Film and Television Unit has monitored the welfare of animals during the production of films and television programs since 1940. They are the source of the familiar...
withheld its "no animals were harmed..." disclaimer due to the accidental deaths of several tropical fish used in the film.
Milestones
The production used over a million feet of film, a milestone reached on the last day of filming and recognized with free champagne by Technicolor. Using the conversion of 90 feet of film per minute, this means that the shooting ratio for the film is 96:1 for the theatrical (84:1 for the unrated version).