The 40 Year Old Virgin: A Storm of Inexperience
I resisted seeing "The 40 Year Old Virgin." I assumed it would be filled with frat boy humor and aesthetics, male sexism at its most low-brow. After seeing it, I find that I am correct. But it also features Steve Carell's character Andy Stitzer, played with all the grace, naivite and earnestness of a virgin.
Andy works as a stock clerk at the electronics store SmarTech (kudos to the film makers for not making an easy product-placement buck by setting it in a real electronics store). He is not particularly liked by his co-workers, as they find him rather strange. One day, however, they are short a fourth for poker and reluctantly invite him to play. It is there that he stuns and amazes his co-workers with the revelation that he is a virgin. Cal, who works with Andy in the stock room says, "That makes so much sense!" Then further elaborates, "I thought you were like a serial killer or something." Andy is sure Cal is kidding, but Cal assures Andy he is serious.
Being a virgin for a man is presented as not just unacceptable, but incomprehensible. It certainly goes against everything I have learned on TV about male sexuality. Men always want sex. At their core, it is what is most sought after. Right? Because they are wired to spread their seed in as much fertile ground as they can find. Right? And women are, if I am to believe most of what I see in American culture, a tool for a man to express his manness. If not, then why the increasingly microscopic focus on the love lives of men and the highly-maintained beauty of the women they love (or used to love)? Don't believe me? Let's count the cover stories about Brad and Angelina, Jen and Vince, Nick and Jessica, Ben and Jennifer.
At the poker game, Andy's SmarTech cohorts reveal themelves as the Greek Chorus of charicatured male sexuality. First, there's love addicted David, played by Paul Rudd. David had a 2 month relationship with a woman. He is stuck in the stasis of romantic obsession, believing beyond a shadow of a doubt, though the relationship ended 2 years ago, that she is The One. Then there's Cal. He is sloppy, easy-going and always getting laid. His willingness to hook up with women is matched only by his indifference about who these women are. Then there's Jay. As the African American male, he is, naturally, the one who is cheating on his girlfriend non-stop. (Must white culture always mythologize the sexual appetites of African-American men? It is an outmoded and racist habit. Can we stop that now?) It is also Jay who says to Andy, "We're gonna get you laid. From now on, your dick is my dick."
Each of the men try to school Andy with their brand of sexuality. And yes, hilarity ensues. Andy is a cleverly written and beautifully acted character. Fish out of water stories can be a comic boon, and this film is a sterling example of such a formula going very right.
It is refreshing that, finally, Andy finds his way to the bedroom on his own terms. Catherine Keener's Trish is a surprisingly well-rounded character. She is both a sexually experienced woman (with three children and a grandchild), and a very vulnerable real-life person with quirks and insecurities and talents and charms. It is clear that she is kind and accepting of Andy, but is not a Hollywood arm charm who will love him no matter what. There are issues. And Andy and Trish deal with them with all the awkwardness that is real life.
What I found completely disappointing was Andy's reason for staying a virgin. He tells Trish, after finally confessing to her his horrible truth (horrible because he was shamed by everyone around him for never having had intercourse with a woman), that he must have been waiting for her. Yes, we see him in a series of flash-backs having a clumsy and difficult time with the women he's dated. He seems accident prone around sex. But my disbelief suspension mechanism is challenged by the assertion that not one of these women was kind and compassionate enough to weather his storm of inexperience. Indeed, his previous partners are depicted as man-eating sex fiends. Another staple of the Hollywood stereotype diet: The Madonna-Whore. In this case, Andy's sexual forays were marred by a propensity for choosing unforgiving, sex-starved/crazed women.
I loved the ending of this film. It put an absurdity-wrought period at the end of the virgin sentence. It played with New Age gender roles in a wonderfully irreverent way. And it punctuated a great and utterly absent concept for a Hollywood rom-com: That real relationships are based on patience, love and acceptance. And that process can be incredibly funny.
"The 40 Year Old Virgin" was also one of the top 5 grossing movies of the summer, and perhaps the year.
Andy works as a stock clerk at the electronics store SmarTech (kudos to the film makers for not making an easy product-placement buck by setting it in a real electronics store). He is not particularly liked by his co-workers, as they find him rather strange. One day, however, they are short a fourth for poker and reluctantly invite him to play. It is there that he stuns and amazes his co-workers with the revelation that he is a virgin. Cal, who works with Andy in the stock room says, "That makes so much sense!" Then further elaborates, "I thought you were like a serial killer or something." Andy is sure Cal is kidding, but Cal assures Andy he is serious.
Being a virgin for a man is presented as not just unacceptable, but incomprehensible. It certainly goes against everything I have learned on TV about male sexuality. Men always want sex. At their core, it is what is most sought after. Right? Because they are wired to spread their seed in as much fertile ground as they can find. Right? And women are, if I am to believe most of what I see in American culture, a tool for a man to express his manness. If not, then why the increasingly microscopic focus on the love lives of men and the highly-maintained beauty of the women they love (or used to love)? Don't believe me? Let's count the cover stories about Brad and Angelina, Jen and Vince, Nick and Jessica, Ben and Jennifer.
At the poker game, Andy's SmarTech cohorts reveal themelves as the Greek Chorus of charicatured male sexuality. First, there's love addicted David, played by Paul Rudd. David had a 2 month relationship with a woman. He is stuck in the stasis of romantic obsession, believing beyond a shadow of a doubt, though the relationship ended 2 years ago, that she is The One. Then there's Cal. He is sloppy, easy-going and always getting laid. His willingness to hook up with women is matched only by his indifference about who these women are. Then there's Jay. As the African American male, he is, naturally, the one who is cheating on his girlfriend non-stop. (Must white culture always mythologize the sexual appetites of African-American men? It is an outmoded and racist habit. Can we stop that now?) It is also Jay who says to Andy, "We're gonna get you laid. From now on, your dick is my dick."
Each of the men try to school Andy with their brand of sexuality. And yes, hilarity ensues. Andy is a cleverly written and beautifully acted character. Fish out of water stories can be a comic boon, and this film is a sterling example of such a formula going very right.
It is refreshing that, finally, Andy finds his way to the bedroom on his own terms. Catherine Keener's Trish is a surprisingly well-rounded character. She is both a sexually experienced woman (with three children and a grandchild), and a very vulnerable real-life person with quirks and insecurities and talents and charms. It is clear that she is kind and accepting of Andy, but is not a Hollywood arm charm who will love him no matter what. There are issues. And Andy and Trish deal with them with all the awkwardness that is real life.
What I found completely disappointing was Andy's reason for staying a virgin. He tells Trish, after finally confessing to her his horrible truth (horrible because he was shamed by everyone around him for never having had intercourse with a woman), that he must have been waiting for her. Yes, we see him in a series of flash-backs having a clumsy and difficult time with the women he's dated. He seems accident prone around sex. But my disbelief suspension mechanism is challenged by the assertion that not one of these women was kind and compassionate enough to weather his storm of inexperience. Indeed, his previous partners are depicted as man-eating sex fiends. Another staple of the Hollywood stereotype diet: The Madonna-Whore. In this case, Andy's sexual forays were marred by a propensity for choosing unforgiving, sex-starved/crazed women.
I loved the ending of this film. It put an absurdity-wrought period at the end of the virgin sentence. It played with New Age gender roles in a wonderfully irreverent way. And it punctuated a great and utterly absent concept for a Hollywood rom-com: That real relationships are based on patience, love and acceptance. And that process can be incredibly funny.
"The 40 Year Old Virgin" was also one of the top 5 grossing movies of the summer, and perhaps the year.
posted by The Critic at
1:45 AM
1 Comments:
I'm not sure that I would have noticed this film much if it weren't for your review of it. I am always game for a good comedy and this one sounds like it's got some interesting quirks - be they bad cultural habits of Hollywood or whatnot. I'll check it out. A charming review, despite it's clear criticisms.
By
Sk8RN, at 3:42 AM
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