day 60 - The 40 Year Old Virgin

OK film fans, I'm getting a late start tonight so I won't be able to hit up a new film like I was hoping. But we still have a few days before the Oscars so we'll nail down the last of the big nominees this week. For tonight, like any night when your're a little tired and just need a good laugh, I'm revisiting a comedy that always makes me laugh when I watch it.

The 40 Year Old Virgin only came out a few years ago but has already become a classic. After years of work in TV as a writer/producer/director Judd Apatow finally got an opportunity to helm a major motion picture. Comedy over the last five years has been irreversibly changed based off of the success of this film and Apatow has been at the epicenter of a major comedy movement. Prior to this film he was a Producer on Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, since this film he's been a writer/producer/director on a ridiculously impressive list of comedies that include Knocked Up, Superbad, Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Pineapple Express. And then there's the list of comedic actors that he's helped reach the top by consistently casting them in his films. This list is just as impressive, Seth Rogen, Jason Segel (both discovered from his stint on the amazing Freaks and Geeks, if you get the chance add this to your netflix queue, you won't be disappointed), Jonah Hill, Paul Rudd and so on. Just check the links, you'll get the drift.

For his first film, which he co-wrote with Steve Carell, we get the story of Andy Stitzer (Carell), a grown man, whose horrific initial attempts into manhood led to his arrival at 40 without losing his virginity. To compensate for his uh, shortcomings, he's become an obsessive collector of action figures, video games and high-tech equipment. Not coincidentally, he works at an electronics superstore. He is able to fool his co-workers about his sexual status until a guy's night poker game reveals his secret. At this point, like most guys would naturally do, they begin to provide him with tips to picking up girls. Of course each of them has issue of their own. David (Paul Rudd) is still pining over a girl who broke up with him 2 years prior; Jay is the self-appointed ladies man with commitment issues and Cal (Seth Rogen) is a diehard partier with such sage advice as "date drunks".

While the guys take him on a journey of one spectacularly bad idea after another (happy hours, chest waxing and speed dating) Andy has experiences of varying success with several women. Nicki (Apatow's wife Leslie Mann) provides a quick lesson in taking advantage of a drunk girl; Paula offers the time revered practice of fuck buddies despite the fact she's his boss, Beth (Elizabeth Banks) responds positively to his advances but is a woman far beyond Andy's experience level; and finally there's Trish (Catherine Keener showing off her range), a single mother who coaxes Andy into an adult relationship.

As evident in this film, Apatow's real gift is bringing realism to comedies. Many of his films are based on the comedy inherent in everyday life, from male bonding to pregnancy. This film in particular deals with the guys' advice and his burgeoning relationship with Trish in the same realistic manner. We get to know his co-workers and like them as a group of guys looking out for a friend while also believing Trish is a woman who sees Andy not as a challenge but as an opportunity. Each scene finds the comedy in the moment, it never feels contrived or forced and despite running a tad long at just under 2 hours, it moves along effortlessly. In the end it's a fun 2 hours, filled with tons of laugh out loud moments and a reminder to be both true to yourself and honest about what you need to make you happy.

day 45 - Superbad

OK film fans, since I actually had the day off for Presidents Day I'm feeling pretty lazy. I did see a new film, one of the Oscar contenders for Best Picture, but I'm going to let it simmer for a while before I post anything. With another work week looming I felt like I could use a late night pick me up, a little comedy to ease the mind and calm the soul. Of course, as the saying goes, "dying is easy, comedy is hard," and many films prove this point (I'm looking at you Valentine's Day - is it just me or does it seem like a requirement for critics to hate a film in order for it open big?). To be honest, the film tonight isn't any more highbrow, it's just more honest about its characters, more true to who they are, which makes the comedy funnier and the characters more appealing. It's also what makes it one of my favorite comedies of the past 10 years.

Superbad is a coming of age film that wears its heart on its sleeve, and its mind in the gutter. It was originally written by actor Seth Rogen and his friend Evan Goldberg when they were 13 years old. Let that sink in for a moment. This film was updated by them as adults and actually filmed. Absolutely amazing. And absolutely brilliant. It captures male adolescence with profound accuracy, recalling the agony of being an outsider and the sheer stupidity of teenagers in pursuit of the perfect Friday night.

Co-dependent best friends Seth (Jonah Hill) and Evan (Michael Cera) are funny, intelligent outsiders in their high school. Nearing the end of their senior year a convergence of mystical forces combines to grant them an invitation to a party being thrown by class hottie Jules (Emma Stone) and the ability to secure booze for said party via their pal Fogell, a.k.a McLovin. Seth has lustful aspirations for Jules, which are clearly not realistic but entertaining none the less. Evan, less foul mouthed but of a like mind, has a thing for Becca, who will also be at the party. With their Friday night mission laid out in front of them they set off to get the booze before heading to the party.

Now, everything up to this point I have personally experienced. And that's what makes this film so good, probably 85% of the bell curve can relate to this story. What makes it funny is how far the writer's and director are willing to go. From the moment Fogell steps into the liquor store and becomes McLovin the wheels come off the short bus sending our protagonists down a rabbit hole of insanity in search of booze to bring to the party. It begins with Fogell getting knocked the F during a holdup at the liquor store. Fogell's journey detours here into a bizarre night spent with the cops who arrive on the scene, Officers Slater (Bill Hader) and Michaels (the aforementioned Rogen). The cops offer to take him to the party he was on his way to, but they get repeatedly interrupted by a slew of improbable but hilarious events.

In the meantime, fate intervenes again for our dynamic duo in the form of a car accident that delivers them to another party, filled with post high school revelers, where they attempt to steal the booze they think will make them heroes in the eyes of the girls. While Seth is single-minded of purpose, Evan's more laid back outlook creates friction between the friends. After escaping the "grown-up" party with detergent bottles filled with beer, in a surprisingly prescient moment, the friends argue about the divergent course of their lives.

As their fight climaxes the story brings McLovin and his cop buddies back into the mix and the three boys escape on foot. McLovin still has the booze from the liquor store and the boys arrive at the party in time to chase the girls of their respective desires. Each of the boys discovers that the night holds more for them than what they envisioned But in true fashion, the party is broken up at the worst possible moment by none other than Officer Slater and Michaels.


While this is clearly a film told from the teenage male perspective, the girls end up being more than just objects of desire. The film treats them as more than just conquests and while not as fleshed out as the boys, we care about their characters far more than the average teen flick. Add in a spectacular display of foul language (at the heart of every teenage boy), dick drawings and a surprisingly effective funk based soundtrack and I find myself back at Arvada High all over again. And this time I know the key to getting the girl.