From PASTO, COLOMBIA-Via: L. A. CA; CALI, COLOMBIA+ORLANDO, FL ---------------- The ONLY Tony Kiss Castillo on FaceBook! ---------------

As often occurs in Hollywood, Movies are made where the main idea seems to be so good, so foolproof, that you react by saying, "Damn, what a hell of a great premise for a movie! No WAY they can screw THAT up!" Unfortunately, where there's a will, there's a Way, and, consequently, sometimes even the best of concepts results in a five-alarm disastrous of a film... Thank God that, The 40 Year Old Virgin, is a case of "The Exception Proves the Rule!" And this, despite the fact that Universal seemed to do just about everything possible to spoil Virgin, it is definitely worth watching, at least once!

In the title role we have the comedy sensation of recent years, Steve Carell, who entered the Comedy Stratosphere with Bruce Almighty. (Where Mr. Carell was Jim Carey's TV weatherman competition. Remember that now famous scene where Carell's character is trying to break some important news, but all he can manage to get out is a series of weird grunts, groans and assorted sounds!)

It seems that, Carrell, who really WAS around 40 at the time ALMIGHTY was made, attained great comic success relatively late in life... But, of course, much better late..! One of Virgin's excesses is that every time the film reaches a rather difficult stretch, it appears that Director, Tom Shadyac (Liar, Liar) places too much responsibility on the shoulders of his leading man, who, despite his great and varied talents, sometimes can't help showing just how much of a struggle it is to carry the film forward.

Another example where VIRGIN is a bit over-the-top, regards the unrelenting profanity in the dialog! If any of you non-native speakers out there were not familiar with some of these words in English, during each viewing, you'll get to practice them at least a hundred times! At some point, it just stops being funny for everyone in the audience. Also, there is simply too much information about too many sexual acts and other kinky incidentals that might have provoked laughter the first, second, or even a bit the third time, but with the umpteenth reference ends up being downright nauseating.

With a run-time of nearly two hours, I think that Virgin would have been even more enjoyable with at least 5 to 10 minutes of strategic editing. But, despite the flaws mentioned here, there are a number of scenes that produce industrial-size laughter, which readily justify the time you invest watching! Also, Virgin demonstrates more than enough originality, both in general concept and in how it has been brought to the screen.

It is well worth mentioning co-star, Catherine Keener (The Interpreter, Being John Malkovich),certainly, a very underrated actress in Hollywood. She plays the competition for love interest to perfection, giving the film a much needed touch of realism and credibility. So here is an interesting and fun film that will probably feel good to both men and women alike! There is almost nothing visually graphic in Virgin, but because of its non-stop hardcore locker room language, I would recommend it for those at least 15, or over, in your family.

No matter if you lost yours at 12 or at 40 or even if you still are...Virgin makes us ALL laugh about an integral component of the human condition, one with which each and every one of us can probably relate to!

7*.... ENJOY!/DISFRUTELA!

Any comments, questions or observations, in English o en Español, are welcome!

Something about the 40 Year Old Virgin and the other comedy hit of the summer, Wedding Crashers, is similar, but they are two different films in some respects. Both are romantic comedies that have that kind of over-the-top, crazy sensibility that keeps the teens and guys in their 20's along with the usual dating crowd to go see the films. Both have some sort of formula to the stories as well. But by the end of the 40 Year Old Virgin, I think I found overall it was more satisfying than 'Crashers'. Although one can guess where the relationship story with Steve Carrell's character Andy and Catherine Keener's character Trish will go to, it isn't too basic for one to figure out like with Crashers, and the characters both leading and supporting are realistic, more rounded than most of the one-dimensional or unexplained people in the other. And, perhaps, it may also depend on how much you identify (or just find the lunacy) in both.

The thing is some people may go into The 40 Year Old Virgin not knowing Steve Carrell as well as Owen Wilson or Vince Vaughn, as Carrell has built up his cult status on The Daily Show (one of my favorite shows on now) and in small but unforgettably riotous roles in Anchorman and Bruce Almighty. This is his first starring role, but it's not treated like some third rate vehicle. He and co-writer/director Judd Apatow treat the character of Andy with a certain level of sincerity that keeps the audience on his side all the way, even early on as he talks to his action figures while re-painting them. It's also a tricky line to walk on- in lessor hands this could be no more or less entertaining than the Lackluster 40 Days and 40 Nights with Josh Hartnett (also about sexual dysfunction). As the title suggests, Andy is the 40 year old who is like the nice guy friend with still a little Pee-Wee Herman in him (the opening over the credits of his his apartment is hilarious, a good sign).

So, his friends (among them Paul Rudd, Romany Mancoy, Seth Rogen, all very good comic foils) try and devise different strategies and tips to finally break the sort of curse over Andy's head to pop his cherry, so to speak. He almost gets with a overly drunk woman, he almost gets with a freaky kind of girl, and almost with his own boss (Jane Lynch, also very funny in the mockumentaries) as a (explitive) buddy. But this soon all starts to fade as he gets into a meaningful relationship with Trish, who works across the street from him. As they build on a relationship not based at all on sex, one might worry that the plot gear of "how is he going to tell her such and such" might get in the way of the comedy. It doesn't. In fact, if anything, Carrell and the cast build on it to a very high degree. For practically an hour and a half of the film's two hour length, there was barely a moment I wasn't laughing, whether big or small.

The big laughs though make up for not just any kind of formalities with the plot, or one or two little stray stories (the fellow co-workers have their own relationship problems as well, Rudd's being the funniest). The big laughs come through because of Carrell's reactions, and that the people around him can either back up with their own sort of humor/charm, or that its with some truth. Keener gives a very good performance and makes it so that there is a genuine spirit to their relationship (and, un-like 'Crashers', there isn't as much that doesn't make sense character wise). For someone like me who loves it when a comedian can get laughs just from the way he looks on his face, Carrell gets very high points here. And like with a Farrelly brothers movie, the more raunchy or outrageous scenes are done with total absurdity; the 'waxing' scene (which was done for real, by the way) and the sort of Aquarius musical number towards the very end of the film (the way it comes out at first is a total, uproarious surprise). But if you're willing not to get offended by it, there's more where that came from. This is one of the funniest films of the year.

"The 40 Year Old Virgin" is an odd mix. On one hand the film is very crude and nasty...filled with tons of sexual innuendos. And, on the other, it's a sweet romance. And for me, the mix didn't quite work. I would have preferred less of the crude humor and more of Steve Carrell's character and the romance.

Andy (Carrell) works at an Electronics store that is much like Best Buy. His co-workers are all jerks who talk about sex all the time. Andy, on the other hand, is pretty shy and has no experience with women...and at first these co-workers make fun of him being a virgin. However, later they make it their mission to get Andy laid. And, not surprisingly, these efforts don't work and their advice is pretty bad. Can Andy manage to find love as well as sex?

Apparently there's a director's cut which has more crudeness than this version. For me, I think there was already too much in the film and it really got in the way of the nice romance. Worth seeing but probably not a good date night film.