Andy Stitzer (Steve Carell) is that bland, anonymous guy you know from pretty much every job you've ever had. Every morning, Andy rides his bike from his apartment (which is crammed with his childhood toys -- all preserved in mint condition within their original packaging) to his job at Smart Tech electronics store. He's quiet, introverted, and poorly-groomed.

One night, a trio of his co-workers, David (Paul Rudd) Cal (Seth Rogen), and Jay (Romany Malco), who are one shy for their poker game, ask Andy if he'd like to join them after hours in the store's back room (despite Cal's assumptions that Andy's a "serial murderer"). Andy agrees somewhat reluctantly, and that night, when the conversation inevitably drifts onto the subject of the guys'  sexual conquests, it becomes painfully obvious to everyone at the table that Andy has no idea what he's talking about ("You know, when you grab a woman's breast, and it...it feels kinda like a bag of sand when you're touching it...?"). The guys quickly surmise that Andy isn't merely shy or being a gentleman...he's an honest-to-God middle-aged virgin.

At first, they make fun of his lack of sexual prowess, but eventually they take Andy under their collective wings and start pushing him out into the uncharted waters of the dating world, hoping to help their new friend bust his cherry. But who will Andy lose his virginity to? Perhaps the kind, appealing Trish (Catherine Keener), a pretty grandmother who works at the "We Can Sell It For You On Ebay" store across the street?  

From its blunt, what-you-read-is-what-you-get title, one might expect The 40-Year-Old Virgin to be in the style of the typical Will Ferrell or Rob Schneider comic vehicle (i.e. lots of screaming and potty-mouth jokes wrapped up with a dose of "sincere" drama at the end to appease the date crowd), but director Judd Apatow (who co-wrote the film with Carell) walks a tightrope between the film's outrageously dirty views of sexuality and an unexpected tone of genuinely touching sweetness underneath. Carell thankfully resists the urge to portray Andy as some creepy, emotionally-damaged freak, but just as a normal guy who let a major part of life slip past him through a series of bad experiences in his formative years, and is now making baby steps towards rectifying the situation.

Thankfully, the film's "serious" elements never end up swamping the laughs (unlike the same summer's Wedding Crashers, which took a sharp nose dive into soap opera bathos for nearly twenty minutes in it's final stretch). We've got David (recovering from a bad relationship), Jay (a horndog player who learns some relationship truths) and Cal (a perpetually baked zen master of pick-up advice, despite describing himself as "ugly as fuck") all offering strong support for Carell to bounce jokes off of, and Keener making for an appealing romantic partner who can still curse like a sailor when provoked. The film is also studded with great gags for its supporting cast, like Gary Bedknob as a beligerent Smart Tech employee who's constantly engaged in a battle of oneupsmanship with Malco over poached customers, Jane Lynch as Carell's boss who offers to be his "fuck-buddy", Leslie Mann in a memorable sequence as a shitfaced romantic prospect Carell picks up in a bar and lives to regret, and a daft Elizabeth Banks as the sexually voracious book store employee who Carell tries out some endearingly clumsy pick-up lines on ("We have a do-it-yourself section" ~ "Do you like to...do it yourself?"). Silly and sweet, raunchy and ribald, The 40-Year-Old Virgin is one of the best mainstream comedies of the past several years, and marks a strong big-screen debut for writer/director Apatow.

Disc Presentation
The film's 1:85.1 ratio is lovingly reproduced on this disc, with no visible print damage and Jack Green's cinematography presented with virtually no grain or smeariness. This isn't rhe most visually elegant movie ever made ("Workmanlike" is the most polite way to describe Apatow's unobtrusive visual style here), but it looks very nice. Ditto the film's 5.1 soundtrack (also available in Spanish and French 5.1). This isn't the first title that would spring to mind to demonstrate one's home theater equipment, but the dialogue and music cues (mostly 80s' pop/rock, to illustrate the music of Andy's high school years) both sound fine.

Extras
This new two-disc "Double Your Pleasure" edition of the film supplants an already-impressive one-disc version that came out in December of 2005. Returning from the original disc are the following:

An audio commentary has Judd Apatow and Steve Carell moderating a discussion with pretty much every single actor (save Catherine Keener) who appears for even five seconds in the movie. This is a raucous, extremely funny track, with plenty of laughs and the cast constantly overlapping each other and cracking each other up with off-color jokes and personal anecdotes. Like the commentary track for The Goonies, this isn't exactly a scholarly, Criterion-style dissection of the film's underlying themes, but it's tremendously entertaining.

Deleted scenes offers most of the axed footage from the original disc (save one curious omision of a scene with Mann and Carell following their car crash), about 18 minutes worth, plus adds another 19:53 worth of brand-new extra scenes on top of that (one gets the idea that the original cut of the film must have run as long as Erich Von Stroheim's Greed). Normally it's easy to see why most deleted scenes were deleted in the first place, but all of this footage could have eailly been put back into the movie. The term "killing your babies" is very apt here. The scenes ported over from the original disc offer optional commentary with Judd Apatow and Seth Rogen, the new scenes do not.

Do You Know How I Know You're Gay? (5:32) offers an alternate, longer version of Paul Rudd and Seth Rogen's memorable improvisational bit with them trading hilarious insults about their latent homosexuality while playing videogames in Andy's apartment ("Do you know how I know you're gay? You like that movie 'Maid In Manhattan'."). This also offers optional commentary with Judd Apatow and Rogen.

Date-A-Palooza (9:19) offers a much longer and more elaborate version of the film's memorable "speed-dating" setpiece, including the return of Leslie Mann's drunken barhopper.

Line-O-Rama (6:20) offers many alternate versions of lines in the film, including different versions of Paul Rudd ragging on Matt Damon while watching The Bourne Identity ("I always thought Damon was a Project Fag-Light...")

Gag Reel (4:36) offers the usual flubbed lines and set shenanigans. Good for a few giggles.

My Dinner With Stormy (2:09) features Seth Rogen "interviewing" the porn actress who appears topless in one of Andy's unsuccsessful masturbation fantasies. Anything with Rogen's face tattooed on a porn star's tit is worth sitting through at least once.

Waxing Doc (3:32) looks behind the now-classic chest-waxing sequence, with multiple camera angles of Carell literally getting giant wads of his gorilla-ish chest hair ripped out by the roots (naturally, this was a one-take deal). One has to admire Carell's dedication to his craft.

New to this special edition (in addition to the extra deleted scenes on disc one) are:

Judd Apatow's Set Diaries (20:45) offers the director complaining about the gruelling shooting schedule and offering glimpses of finished footage. Must have been fun to watch on-line before the movie came out, but now they're pretty redundant.

Auditions (7:34 total) offers filmed improvisations by Jonah Hill ("eBay store customer"), Elizabeth Banks ("Beth"), Romany Malco ("Jay"), Shelly Malil ("Haziz"), Jane Lynch ("Paula") Gary Bedknob ("Mooj") and Jazzmun ("Prostitute")

Raw Footage (19:23) features a trio of long, uninterrupted takes with Carell during the poker game, the waxing scene, and Carell's squeamish reactions to Banks pleasuring herself in the bathtub. One can get a sense of just how much improvisation went on during the film shoot watching this footage and hearing Apatow yelling dialogue suggestions from off-camera.

Rehersals (5:13) offers Carell, Rudd, Rogen and Malco reading an early draft of the poker scene.

Comedy Central Reel Comedy Roundtable (21:07) has Apatow and the cast reminiscing about the film's shoot and the project's origins.

Cinemax Final Cut (12:44) is another featurette covering much of the same ground as the Comedy Central piece.

1970s' Sex-Ed Film (5:27) is a hilariously-dated piece of high school propoganda with afroed and bell-bottomed students watching another edjucational filmstrip and commenting upon safe sex. This is the kind of thing that's much funnier with commentary from the cast of Mystery Science Theater 3000.

Knocked Up Trailer (3:05) offers a "restricted" trailer for Apatow's forthcoming comedy starring Virgin alumnus Seth Rogen and Grey's Anatomy star Katherine Heigl. This looks extremely funny.

The Bottom Line  
A charming look at how one man's search for sexual passion leads to a newfound sense of self-worth and maturity and a riotously raunchy throwback to the R-rated "gotta-get-laid" comedies of the 80s (Porky's, et al), The 40-Year-Old Virgin sparkles anew in this "Double Your Pleasure" edition that, in addition to it's meaty new extras, sweetens the pot with a free ticket to see Knocked Up. Any fan of the film can easily justify selling or trading their copy of the original release (save one deleted scene that's puzzlingly not ported over to this new edition) and picking up this nicely-priced reissue.

"Hey-hey-hey, motherfucker...!"  

		The 40-Year-Old Virgin - Double Your Pleasure Ed.
4.5		Feature - Virgin is a sweet-and-salty comedy treat that earns just as many "awwws" as it does belly-laughs.
4		Video - Looks just fine and dandy, although it's not the most visually arresting movie ever made.
3.5		Audio - The dialogue & soundtrack come through loud & clear, though surround activity is kept to a minimum.
4.5		Extras - Deleted scenes, a terrific commentary & solid making-of featurettes. Well-worth the double-dip.

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