# The 40-Year-Old Virgin is supposed to be a comedy? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 4, 2013, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-40-year-old-virgin-is-supposed-to-be-a-comedy/673025 "2013-11-04T03:05:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-40-year-old-virgin-is-supposed-to-be-a-comedy/673025/61 "2013-11-05T00:44:25Z")
Yes that’s Leslie Mann, Apatow’s wife, star of This is 40, George of the Jungle and a few other movies. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-40-year-old-virgin-is-supposed-to-be-a-comedy/673025/62 "2013-11-05T00:56:26Z")
Nobody’s mentioned the funniest movie ever made, “This Is Spinal Tap”? ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-40-year-old-virgin-is-supposed-to-be-a-comedy/673025/63 "2013-11-05T01:11:10Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > What’s your point? 😉 > > _There’s Something About Mary_ was pretty good. Is that low-brow? > > I have no problems laughing at low-brow. > > You have me reconsidering my sense of humour now. _Bridesmaids_ was terrible, for example. > > Early Woody Allen is hilarious. _A Fish Called Wanda_ anyone? Well obviously you have no problem laughing at lowbrow, that was basically the whole list you gave. I already said theres nothing wrong with that. I would put the movies you just mentioned a little above the “lowbrow” bar. Slapstick/crude mixed up with the clever. I liked all three myself. I like Woody Allen throughout his career if not every movie. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-40-year-old-virgin-is-supposed-to-be-a-comedy/673025/64 "2013-11-05T05:59:57Z")
Well, not that this particularly ‘solves’ anything with any finality, but 40 Year Old Virgin was also a hit critically: > **[The 40-Year-Old Virgin](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/40_year_old_virgin)** > > Andy Stitzer (Steve Carell) is an amiable single guy who works at a big-box store. Living alone, 40-year-old Andy spends his free time playing video games and curating his action-figure collection. Despite his age, Andy has never had sex, so his... Rotten Tomatoes has it as 85% positive. Most film critics aren’t necessarily fans of 13 year old humor, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-40-year-old-virgin-is-supposed-to-be-a-comedy/673025/65 "2013-11-05T06:29:08Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > Yes that’s Leslie Mann, Apatow’s wife, star of This is 40, George of the Jungle and a few other movies. Actually, I think he was referring to [Elizabeth Banks](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0006969/?ref_=tt_cl_t6). ---
**Author:** ![Miltonyz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Miltonyz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miltonyz)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-40-year-old-virgin-is-supposed-to-be-a-comedy/673025/66 "2013-11-05T06:53:58Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Actually, I think he was referring to [Elizabeth Banks](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0006969/?ref_=tt_cl_t6). No, the last poster was right. The crazy scary car ride was with Leslie Mann, the real life wife of Judd Apatow. Banks played the freak girl that worked in a nearby shop, Andy nearly has relations with her but is confused by her offers for anal sex. I can’t remember the exact lines but when his friends rescue him, they comment that she is way freaky, and he is in over his head with that one. ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-40-year-old-virgin-is-supposed-to-be-a-comedy/673025/67 "2013-11-05T07:30:52Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Actually, I think he was referring to [Elizabeth Banks](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0006969/?ref_=tt_cl_t6). No, _she_ (ahem!) was referring to Leslie Mann. Banks I know (she’s kinda ubiquitous)–she was the book shop employee who inspired Rogan to suggest that Andy pretend he was David Caruso in _Jade_, and later in the film she had a rather intimate moment with her shower head while drunk. (That was actually the only creepy moment in the film for me. Not her pleasuring herself–the fact that after the guys got Andy the heck outta there, Rogan stayed and started undressing. Bad choice on Apatow’s part, IMO.) Mann, on the other hand, wore the hat and drunk-drove. [Here’s a bit of the scene.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smpR58uwG6Y) ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-40-year-old-virgin-is-supposed-to-be-a-comedy/673025/68 "2013-11-05T09:35:32Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > The part **Bob Ducca** quoted above is not even remotely funny to me. The test of whether or not something is a comedy is not whether you find it funny, but whether you can find jokes in it. So people are telling you where the jokes are. If you want, we can also explain why they are comedic. Or at least, they can. I haven’t seen this particular movie. I’m not big on movies where the protagonist is the repeated target of unfair ridicule. I’m too busy feeling sorry for them to find it funny. And even knowing now that it’s got a heart warming ending still makes me wonder if I’d like it. It would need to be heartwarming throughout. ---
**Author:** ![Dave\_Hartwick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@Dave\_Hartwick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Hartwick)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-40-year-old-virgin-is-supposed-to-be-a-comedy/673025/69 "2013-11-05T10:32:25Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Or at least, they can. I haven’t seen this particular movie. I’m not big on movies where the protagonist is the repeated target of unfair ridicule. I’m too busy feeling sorry for them to find it funny. And even knowing now that it’s got a heart warming ending still makes me wonder if I’d like it. It would need to be heartwarming throughout. I think you’ve misjudged the movie. The main character gets humiliated a few times, but he’s a better person than the majority of the cast. Occasionally he’s even better than the guys around him at their own games. In both cases, the other guys become aware of his superiority, IMO. He does get ridiculed a bit by his friends and neighbors, though. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-40-year-old-virgin-is-supposed-to-be-a-comedy/673025/70 "2013-11-05T10:54:02Z")
> [@choie](#): > > No, _she_ (ahem!) was referring to Leslie Mann. Banks I know (she’s kinda ubiquitous)–she was the book shop employee who inspired Rogan to suggest that Andy pretend he was David Caruso in _Jade_, and later in the film she had a rather intimate moment with her shower head while drunk. > > (That was actually the only creepy moment in the film for me. Not her pleasuring herself–the fact that after the guys got Andy the heck outta there, Rogan stayed and started undressing. Bad choice on Apatow’s part, IMO.) > > Mann, on the other hand, wore the hat and drunk-drove. [Here’s a bit of the scene.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smpR58uwG6Y) I stand corrected. It’s been a while since I saw the movie, and I guess the two characters sort of merged. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-40-year-old-virgin-is-supposed-to-be-a-comedy/673025/71 "2013-11-05T11:50:31Z")
> [@choie](#): > > (That was actually the only creepy moment in the film for me. Not her pleasuring herself–the fact that after the guys got Andy the heck outta there, Rogan stayed and started undressing. Bad choice on Apatow’s part, IMO.) I entirely agree - that was revolting. I vaguely recall they “made it okay” by putting it her giggling when Rogan starts undressing but it’s kind of horrible if you devote more than one brain cell to the scenario. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-40-year-old-virgin-is-supposed-to-be-a-comedy/673025/72 "2013-11-05T11:51:43Z")
“Two things are not debatable: eroticism, and comedy. If you don’t think it’s sexy, or funny, there’s no way I can change your mind”. - Gene Siskel ---
**Author:** ![MyFootsZZZ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/myfootszzz/32/12580_2.png) [@MyFootsZZZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyFootsZZZ)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-40-year-old-virgin-is-supposed-to-be-a-comedy/673025/73 "2013-11-05T11:59:04Z")
> [@tullsterx](#): > > OK, that’s a low blow. If you don’t like 40YOV you just might be a 40YOV? I don’t know. > > But, I do expect that movie was not funny to actual 40 year-old virgins. We’ll have to do a poll. I was a 31 y/o virgin. I found it to be, not only funny, but pretty accurate. I just can’t talk to women with the intrest of going out with them. ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-40-year-old-virgin-is-supposed-to-be-a-comedy/673025/74 "2013-11-05T12:13:27Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > This just in…Another SDMB member finds that their tastes are different from the general population and takes some particular bit of pop culture as a personal affront. Obligatory [video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=rqZfWku1pl8#t=181). 40YOV is funny, but more “heh” than “ha, ha”. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-40-year-old-virgin-is-supposed-to-be-a-comedy/673025/75 "2013-11-05T14:19:51Z")
> [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](#): > > I don’t remember hearing many jokes in _Silent Movie_. That was supposed to be a comedy, too. You heard one… “No!” ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-40-year-old-virgin-is-supposed-to-be-a-comedy/673025/76 "2013-11-05T14:24:38Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > FRIENDSHIP DISSOLVEDstupid anti-yelling software Awwwww. Is it because of Bruce Almighty or Morgan Freeman? Because I can come to terms with Morgan Freeman…but never, never, Bruce Almighty. ---
**Author:** ![AnthonyElite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b487fb/32.png) [@AnthonyElite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnthonyElite)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-40-year-old-virgin-is-supposed-to-be-a-comedy/673025/77 "2013-11-05T14:48:17Z")
> [@Kimballkid](#): > > Not even _Anchorman_ or _Bruce Almighty_? I find Anchorman funny, but that had nothing to do with Steve. Bruce Almighty? Didn’t even consider him to be trying to be funny in that one. And for that matter I wasn’t too fond of the movie; it wasn’t terrible but they could have done much better things with the concept. Also, Jim Carrey is at his best when he is fresh off a coke binge. I hate that it is true, but it is. ---
**Author:** ![AnthonyElite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b487fb/32.png) [@AnthonyElite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnthonyElite)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-40-year-old-virgin-is-supposed-to-be-a-comedy/673025/78 "2013-11-05T14:52:36Z")
> [@Yookeroo](#): > > Prove you wrong on what you find funny? I’ll get back to you on that. > > Right. Taste is personal. Humor even more so. No no, prove me wrong that he has original material. And yes, I know it is opinion and not fact, lets not be silly. I just find it hard to believe that anyone besides vapid mouth breathers find him funny. Perhaps I’m missing something, but if I am I don’t want to find it. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-40-year-old-virgin-is-supposed-to-be-a-comedy/673025/79 "2013-11-05T14:54:57Z")
> [@AnthonyElite](#): > > No no, prove me wrong that he has original material. And yes, I know it is opinion and not fact, lets not be silly. I just find it hard to believe that anyone besides vapid mouth breathers find him funny. Perhaps I’m missing something, but if I am I don’t want to find it. Movies made for “vapid mouth breathers”, as you call us, don’t tend to receive 85% favorbility ratings on Rotten Tomatoes. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-40-year-old-virgin-is-supposed-to-be-a-comedy/673025/80 "2013-11-05T14:57:56Z")
> [@AnthonyElite](#): > > No no, prove me wrong that he has original material. And yes, I know it is opinion and not fact, lets not be silly. I just find it hard to believe that anyone besides vapid mouth breathers find him funny. Perhaps I’m missing something, but if I am I don’t want to find it. Queue the vapid mouth breathers. No but you are being silly. I can enjoy Marx Brothers at their most witty and at their most slapstick and I am still not a mouth breather. I like Shakespeare and I like…whatever the opposite of Shakespeare would be. I laugh at Lewis Black and I also think Dave Atell is fucking funny, and those two are pretty far apart. Humor is so, so, subjective and it doesn’t make you a better or smarter or more clever person - or any less of a mouth-breather - because you like one comic or the other. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-40-year-old-virgin-is-supposed-to-be-a-comedy/673025.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-40-year-old-virgin-is-supposed-to-be-a-comedy/673025.md?page=5)