The 40 Year Old Virgin 2005

Connie Ogle, Miami Herald: Hilarious and imaginatively crude with a surprising sweet and subtle aftertaste that prevents it from flopping, limp and brainless, into the sugary abyss of romantic predictability. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: The 40-Year-Old Virgin disarms us -- it is, at its heart, a sweet-natured romantic comedy. Unfortunately, you have to clear away a fair bit of debris to find that heart. Read more

Allison Benedikt, Chicago Tribune: The answer is, unequivocally, yes. Yes, Steve Carell can carry a movie. Read more

Robert Denerstein, Denver Rocky Mountain News: An undeniably likable quality helps make this smutty, silly late-summer entry more entertaining than many of its more polished counterparts. Read more

Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle: Despite a very lowbrow premise, the profanity-packed script is hilarious, and it also has a good heart. Read more

David Edelstein, Slate: The 40-Year-Old Virgin is too long, too sexist, and too -- shall we say -- flaccid. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: I think this is one of the summer's biggest, most pleasant surprises. Read more

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: This character-driven comedy, with its excellent cast and let's-get-nutty finale featuring songs from Hair, is well worth your time. Read more

Nathan Rabin, AV Club: Apatow genuinely loves his hero, and the film's innate sweetness carries it through the rough patches of a funny comedy with a central relationship that isn't particularly funny. Read more

Bill Muller, Arizona Republic: A nostalgic, sentimental and wholly bawdy comedy that will make you laugh until your sides hurt. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: [Carell's] touched us for the very first time. Read more

Carina Chocano, Los Angeles Times: A surprisingly sweet and funny ode to male friendship and middle-aged love. Read more

Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle: The whole film is about embarrassment, about those moments of clammy vulnerability when the world just turns and stares. Read more

Paul Clinton (CNN.com), CNN.com: The good-natured tone of the film and the wonderful comedic talents of the entire cast -- especially Carell -- make the gross-out moments charmingly relatable. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: The 40-Year-Old Virgin offers some sparkling insights about the cumulative effects of performance anxiety, about how guys struggle with the transit from boys to men with little help from their pals. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: The 40 Year-Old Virgin is buoyantly clever and amusing, a comedy of horny embarrassment that has the inspiration to present a middle-aged virgin's dilemma as a projection of all our romantic anxieties. Read more

Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News: Balances gross-out humor with moments of genuine wit and even a little warmth. Read more

Scott Foundas, L.A. Weekly: An unconscionably funny sex farce that, by its end, turns into a tender and honest romance, an acute portrait of loneliness and, believe it or not, a musical. Read more

Gene Seymour, Newsday: Those looking for the coarse, sometimes cheap laughs promised by the movie's attention-getting title won't be disappointed. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Carell brings something funny, and oddly real to Andy -- a touch of embarrassment, a bit of self-loathing, a genuinely sweet concern. Read more

Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: Carell and Apatow's script is so hip, funny and -- yes -- innocent that it's never offensive. Read more

Andrew Sarris, New York Observer: Count me among the naysayers. Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: Steve Carell plays the title character in a charmingly bent comedy about a likable geek's progress from action figures to real action. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: It's a little long, a lot lowbrow. But The 40-Year-Old Virgin is a stitch. See it if you could use a laugh. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: If you're looking for a successor to There's Something About Mary and American Pie, look no further. It has arrived. And, if I may be so bold, this is more enjoyable than either of them. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: The 40-Year-Old Virgin is surprisingly insightful, as buddy comedies go, and it has a good heart and a lovable hero. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: If it were 20 minutes shorter, it would be that much closer to perfect. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: The 40-Year-old Virgin maintains a deft balancing act, playing raunchy sight gags and rude dialogue against heartfelt moments. Read more

Jason Anderson, Globe and Mail: If only losing it was so good for everybody. Read more

Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star: The 40 Year-Old Virgin speaks to the geek in us all, it's democratic in its ridicule, and it makes you understand why sometimes a guy just wants to stay home and talk to his toys. Read more

Time Out: At its best it resembles one of those classic early-'80s comedies starring Steve Martin -- the thinking man's Woody Allen -- boasting an acute mix of desperation, dignity, lunacy and indecorous wit. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: It's worth making a date with The 40-Year-Old Virgin. You won't go home disappointed. Read more

Brian Lowry, Variety: Crude, sophomorically homophobic but frequently funny. Read more

Russell Edwards, Variety: Read more

Jessica Winter, Village Voice: [Continues the trend] whereby ethnic inclusiveness can write a blank check for ethnic stereotyping and the homo-panic jokes are supposed to be on the hetero lunkheads, not on, y'know, the gays. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: Filthy, funny and sweet in equal measure. Read more