Andy Stitzer was deflowered ten years ago today and nothing was the same. That's right: it's been a decade since Judd Apatow's seminal debut as a writer-director, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, arrived in theaters. In a digital age where attention spans are moribund, trends become transient at an alarming rate and the "classic vs. trash" binary has reduced once revered art to footnotes, stuff from a decade ago can feel like a graveyard of sterilized memories. The 40-Year-Old Virgin though has defeated those odds by not only being the best romantic comedy of the 2000s, but also the most influential. It shifted the comedic zeitgeist from inane to intellectual, from screwball to sensitive, from hyper-masculine to hilariously honest.
What made The 40-Year-Old Virgin special was the way in which it deconstructed the Bromance formula and created a new template for the genre. It’s important to note that 2005 was a huge year for adult comedy, with Wedding Crashers premiering one month before The 40-Year-Old Virgin. With a $200 million domestic box office gross, Wedding Crashers became the highest grossing R-rated comedy of all-time (until it was felled by The Hangover in 2009). The 40-Year-Old Virgin was also a box office success ($177 million worldwide against a $26 million budget) and a critical triumph itself, but the pairing presented a David vs. Goliath scenario. On the surface, Wedding Crashers’ massive cash-out appeared to signify the dawn of a new comedic era, but in reality it was the snake eating its own tail.
The 40-Year-Old Virgin offered a market correction to the bawdy alpha-male dick swinging of Wedding Crashers (and its true antecedent Old School) by subverting expectation from the underdog’s point of view. Apatow dialed down the masculine behavior and focused more on the awkwardness of male bonding and sexual relationships, plus the real human emotions that provide the underpinning of both. Apatow is an expert marksman at capturing how adults really speak, and he’s more concerned with letting his actors discover the truth and emotion of each scene with free-form conversation, resulting in a heightened realism. As a result, dialogue supplanted gross-out hijinks in his raunchy sex comedy.
That’s not to say that Judd was above going blue to elicit laughs. Steve Carrell’s Andy strutting around his Mystery Science Theater-garnished apartment with morning wood (during the opening credits, for Christ’s sake!) could’ve been a deleted scene from American Pie. Also, in a lesser director’s hands, a protracted chest-waxing scene could’ve been cringeworthy, but Apatow’s extreme close-up reaction shots of Carrell (whose real chest hair was being forcibly wrenched) allowed us to laugh at his pain and not feel mean-spirited. Kelly Clarkson’s name is now forever synonymous with the absurdity of manscaping.
But the beating heart of The 40-Year-Old Virgin was the banter between its characters and how they evolve through self-realization and conflict. David (Paul Rudd), Cal (Seth Rogen), and Jay (Romany Malco) were the self-appointed wingmen who projected their own intimacy issues onto the socially paralyzed Andy. The trio thought they were teaching Andy about manhood by defining it through sexual conquests. Instead they discovered that they were damaged, insecure little boys who needed women to help them grow up. There are hilarious and painfully accurate depictions of misguided machismo as the men attempt to pick up women in clubs, bookstores, and a speed dating session. They all believe they're Casanovas, yet the audience sees they have no clue what they are doing and it’s a cathartic payoff: finally, comedy from the male perspective that speaks honestly to how scared shitless we all are of love, rather than being too cool for it.
Andy does find his true love in Trish (an always spectacular Catherine Keener) and their personal hang-ups, self-doubt and secrets present themselves in completely relatable ways as the characters begin peeling back layers. Unlike most rom-coms, you can see yourself in each person on screen. You have said the same words the characters use when trying to verbalize the maelstrom of emotions that overcome you when you allow yourself to be vulnerable with another person. There isn’t a single one-dimensional character in The 40-Year-Old Virgin; no one is too handsome or gorgeous (Ed. note: Well, Paul Rudd.), no one is without flaws. And while the movie may conclude with a typical “happy ending,” as Andy loses his virginity to the woman he will be spending the rest of his life with, it does so in a tender, honest fashion as to never feel manipulative or like it’s pandering to a puritanical family values morality.
And thus a new adult comedy standard was established. The 40-Year-Old Virgin was the first true phase of Apatow’s kingdom building. While his dominion truly began incubating with the unjustly canceled The Ben Stiller Show, Freaks & Geeks and Undeclared, this movie had the biggest mainstream impact. It took a 40-year-old virgin to cut through the Gordian knot of how to make Apatow and his farm league of comedic talent accessible to a wider audience. Every successful comedy (and some dramas) for the next ten years would crack the Virgin-ian code or die trying. And that was an inevitability, given how far the diverse, talented cast has spread throughout the Hollywood petri dish. Steve Carrell brought magic to The Office and made it sacred pop culture paragon. Seth Rogen is now writing, directing, and starring in $100 million-grossing comedies (while bringing Zac Efron and other unexpected personalities to join the fun by acting against type). Jonah Hill is now a two-time Academy Award nominee. Paul Rudd is bringing his deadpan wit to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Romany Malco brought his likeability to Weeds and the Think Like a Man movies. Elizabeth Banks is making history with her involvement in the Pitch Perfect and Hunger Games franchises. Kevin Hart is breaking Eddie Murphy records. Jane Lynch and Kat Dennings are carrying huge network shows on their backs—and Mindy Kaling's about to take over Hulu. And the list goes on. Their influence is felt in every corner of entertainment, and the culture adapts to their moves.
So let us bow down in reverence to The 40-Year-Old Virgin on it’s tenth birthday. It’s the movie that elevated the comedy genre to a highbrow echelon without being cynical or condescending. It’s a 40-year-old that has aged so well that it’s still making us laugh and look at love in an intelligent way to this day. It is the Boner Jams Vol. 1 of romantic comedies: Strictly the best.
