Andy Stitzer (Carell) is a tech guy at an electronics store. He’s older than his core co-workers (Jay, David, and Cal), but they catch on during a poker game that Andy’s never been laid. The attempted set-ups that follow are all sincerely portrayed, emphasizing genuine human characterizations so that the laughs (and there were plenty) are real. You don’t laugh because of the absurdity of it all, but rather because of the painful reality of it all. The guys are hopelessly male and of course don’t really understand women the way they think they do, but they unwittingly prod Andy into getting over his need to respect women (again, very genuine) and get to the business of loving at least one of them.

Andy makes a couple of disastrous attempts with the young, hot chicks his pals point him toward (Elizabeth Banks gives a much more fully realized portrayal of a tipsy sex-fiend than you’ll find in most comedies) before going after the woman he’s actually interested in. Keener plays Trish as someone who really has gotten her life together after a series of bad relationships and we thankfully do not dwell on alcoholism or ex-boyfriends or tragically misunderstood teenage children, but on how Trish has started her own business and how she genuinely likes this guy.

The rest of the plot twists are not worth exploring here, largely because everything is funny. The sophomoric gags and the romantic comedy are inseparable. Carell’s swearing fits while having his chest hair waxed are hilarious and they’re played the way regular people would react to them. Paula’s suggestions that Andy consider her as a fuck buddy are also funny, both because Lynch plays them provocatively, but not over the top, and because Carell awkwardly deflects them rather than sweating stupidly through them.

One major difference between writer/director Judd Apatow’s “The 40 Year Old Virgin” and “Anchorman” is the absence of Will Ferrell. Yes, I’ve read that all these guys are pals and that they love to appear in each other’s movies, but “Anchorman” was everything a 13-year-old suburban kid thinks is funny, while “Virgin,” is everything an adult comedy should be; a great companion picture to Mike Judge’s “Office Space.”

But hey, maybe some of you readers thought “Anchorman” was a hoot. Personally, I found it remarkably, astoundingly unfunny, but it wasn’t until I saw this film that I knew the whole reason why. Sometimes believability is a lot funnier than slapstick. If you’ve seen both flicks, compare the boner humor. And there I will rest my case.

Write Comment
Name:	Guest
Title:
Comment:
Code:*

Powered by AkoComment 2.0!