Gareth's Top Ten Comedies of the 21st Century (So Far)
#8 The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005)
The 40-Year-Old Virgin was the first of the new wave of big screen Apatow productions and still has the most heart out of all his subsequent efforts. The film made box office stars of Steve Carrell and Seth Rogen and gave Apatow the blueprint for success that every one of his films since has as good as followed: guy comedy with heart. On hearing the films title, I assumed it would be a slapstick affair with very crude jokes played entirely for laughs of the lowest common denominator; but although there are the moments of crudity, for the most part the 40-Year-Old-Virgin is a love story and a tale of one mans ambivalence to sex. The supporting cast are all great, Romany Malco and Paul Rudd round out Carrells co-workers with Rogen, Elizabeth Banks turns up as a kinky and extremely randy potential love interest and Catherine Keener adds a bit of class to proceedings as the object of Carrells Andys affections. The 40-Year-Old-Virgin remains the strongest of the new wave of Apatow films if you ask me, and pioneered this new sub-genre of the date movie that those of us with Y chromosomes can actually enjoy; which if it means it gets guys out of seeing dire wank like Hes Just Not that into You can only be a good thing.