Take the combined talents of Steve Carell, Seth Rogen, Paul Rudd, Romany Malco, Jane Lynch, Elizabeth Banks, and Catehrine Keener, add to that a genuinely funny and sweet script by Judd Apatow (the man who brought you Anchorman, Freaks and Geeks, The Critic, and The Larry Sanders Show) and you've got a great comedy. And because it treated its subject with respect and liberally spread the ridicule on the supporting cast, The 40-Year-Old Virgin was the funniest film of 2005. For those of us going through Vaughn-Stiller-Wilson fatigue, the foursome of Carell, Rudd, Rogen, and Malco provided a breath of fresh air. None of the catch phrases caught on, so most people aren't sick of it. This should be a slam dunk on DVD.
And yet it isn't. Blame whomever decided to release the film as an "unrated" director's cut that stretches the film well past the two-hour mark. If the lengthened scenes were funny, that wouldn't be a problem, but with the exception of a few amusing lines, all they do is run the joke into the ground. There's a reason comedies are rarely over 110 minutes, and Virgin is a good example why.
Among the restored scenes is the infamous "masturbation fantasy," a bit that was removed because test audiences responded negatively to it. Score one for the test audiences: the scene, involving a porn actress who talks dirty in Andy's own voice, is disturbing and awkward. The original version of that sequence was timed perfectly – Andy watches a porno for about thirty seconds and then switches over to Everybody Loves Raymond. That's comedy. What’s befuddling is that there’s no option to shut the deleted scenes off. Instead, the only way you can watch the original version is by purchasing a fullscreen cut of it. Not worth it.
Special features
Had enough yet? Too bad: the special features are comprised almost entirely of even more previously-excised footage. But curiously, this bonus-additional-material is funnier on the whole than the “restored” stuff -- at least when removed from the context of the rest of the movie. Andy has two fantasies here, both funnier than the jerk-off scene. Seth Rogen and Jane Lynch showcase their skills in what feels like an improvised take – it almost certainly wouldn't have worked in the film, but when given its own framing, it feels both fresh and true to life. For completists, the alternate version of the speed dating sequence contains the return of Nicky, the drunk girl who threw up on Andy earlier on. Priceless.
Arguably the most memorable scene in the film is Andy's chest-waxing. As was noted in the press, the process was real. And if you didn't believe it, there's a documentary enclosed here. The camera captures Carell, now encased in aloe, watching the playback of the footage and realizing just what a bad idea the whole thing was. I have a sneaking suspicion this was included solely to bust Carell's balls. Nothing wrong with that.
