What luck! It’s not every day that a
previously undiscovered Hitchcock film surfaces. The 40-Year-Old Virgin finds the Master of Suspense in
familiar nail-biting territory when a mysterious stranger rolls into a quiet
town and… I’m just kidding. Actually, the directorial debut of Judd Apatow (creator of TV’s sorely missed Undeclared) is a bit of dirty-sweet hilarity about a guy embarking
on his fifth decade of intercourse-free living. Hope I didn’t ruin the
surprise.
Andy (Steve Carell, Anchorman)
doesn’t seem to mind his unsullied status, apparently content to fill his free
time with collecting action figures (“Is that the Six Million Dollar Man’s
boss?”), watching Survivor with his
neighbors, and perfecting the egg salad sandwich. But he’s not exactly
advertising his chastity, either, and once his coworkers — ladies’ man Jay
(Romany Malco), stoner Cal (Seth Rogen),
and wounded Dave (I love Paul Rudd) — drag the truth out of him, it becomes
their mission to acquaint Andy with the fairer sex. And there is nothing
funnier than men trying to explain women to other men, on film or in person.
So with the aid of his hapless friends, Andy tries his hand at hooking up. His
frightening interlude with the alcohol-soaked Nicky (Leslie Mann) gets the ball
rolling, and then his accidental seduction of bookstore employee Beth
(Elizabeth Banks, from Seabiscuit)
ups his confidence. But getting to know a person more than just biblically
becomes Andy’s goal once he meets Trish (Catherine Keener), a divorcee who
isn’t completely forthcoming about her situation either.
Hopefully the inevitable and deserved success of the ruthlessly raunchy Virgin (cowritten
by Apatow and Carell) and
the ongoing popularity of The Wedding
Crashers will mean it’s acceptable to laugh again in public at stuff that’s
not at all politically correct. I’m thinking in particular of the affectionate
“Know how I know you’re gay?” smackdown between Dave
and Cal during their videogame battle. It certainly isn’t a terribly
enlightened exchange, but it’s not mean-spirited and it is refreshingly real.
(For the record, liking Coldplay is not an accurate
barometer of a person’s sexuality, just a sure sign that they won’t have any
CDs you’ll want to borrow.)
Carell, with his big gray eyes and trustworthy eyebrows,
underplays a character for the first time, and he makes it completely
believable that Andy, having not had the greatest luck, decided to take himself out of the game and needed just a little push to
resume play. Watching the interaction between him, Rudd, Malco,
and Rogen is like being a fly on the wall at a really
goofy bachelor party. And Keener finally finds a studio film worthy of her
talents with a role that could have easily been a merely symbolic one in this
celluloid He-Man Woman Haters Club.
There is a tiny problem, though. At the screening I attended, the film seemed to
break right at the end. I probably didn’t miss much — most likely some
outtakes over the credits — and I doubt anything would have happened that
would cause me to do a 180 on my high opinion of Virgin. I did, however, witness a gentleman who was very upset
about missing the tail end of a free movie. This message is for him:
Dear Clueless Jerk:
Movie theaters and projection booths are designed to be relatively soundproof, which
makes yelling at the projectionist from your seat rather futile. I don’t mind
the idea of you wasting your breath, though, so have at it.
Sincerely,
Dayna
Shot
entirely in the Budapest subway
system, Kontroll is a darkly comedic
thriller focusing on a group of ticket control officers who are trying to
maintain order underground. Clever Bulcsรบ (SรกndorCsรกnyi) is the leader of
this bedraggled bunch, which consists of weary veteran, green rookie,
narcoleptic slob, and the one who looks like Begbie
from Trainspotting (a film to which Kontroll owes a great deal, incidentally). They must contend with inept superiors, rival
co-workers, an uncooperative public, and what looks to be a rash of suicides
but isn’t because murder advances a plot better than despair does.
Kontroll is undeniably entertaining but it made me feel kind of cheap as filmmaker NimrรณdAntal succumbed to the
usual clichรฉs of this genre, i.e., foot chases set to thumping music, a
formulaic setup, and a beautiful yet quirky love interest. The execution is
extremely accomplished, however, as Antal makes the
subway the star of the film.
But there are number of questions left unanswered about Bulcsรบ’s
past life, the killer’s motives, and the possible familial connection between Bulcsรบ and the girl in the teddy bear suit. Then again,
maybe I’m not supposed to ask.
The 40-Year-Old Virgin (R), directed
by Judd Apatow, is playing at Brockport Strand,
Canandaigua Theatres, Geneseo Theatres, Eastview Mall 13, Henrietta 18, Pittsford Cinema, Tinseltown USA | Kontroll(R), directed by Nimrod Antal, opens at the Little Theatre on Friday, August 19.
This article appears in Aug 17-23, 2005.
