The 40 Year Old Virgin
Metascore
73 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 35 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 26 out of 35
  2. Mixed: 9 out of 35
  3. Negative: 0 out of 35
view
per page
  1. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Owen Gleiberman
    91
    Buoyantly clever and amusing.
  2. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Scott Foundas
    90
    It's 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. This is a movie Blake Edwards might have made.
  3. Dallas Observer
    Reviewed by: Robert Wilonsky
    90
    Virgin is astoundingly astute but also wondrously clever, written with more care and joy than any hundred comedies to come out of Hollywood in years.
  4. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Carina Chocano
    90
    Takes a premise that, in less competent, less empathetic hands, would have had the depth of a pancake, gives it a soul and turns it into a surprisingly sweet and funny ode to male friendship and middle-aged love.
  5. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    88
    Surprisingly insightful, as buddy comedies go, and it has a good heart and a lovable hero.
  6. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Allison Benedikt
    88
    Yes, Steve Carell can carry a movie. Yes, Judd Apatow can direct a movie. Yes, we'll all relate to a middle-aged virgin. And yes, when an aesthetician yells to her assistant "we're gonna need more wax," you best run.
  7. Miami Herald
    Reviewed by: Connie Ogle
    88
    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.
  8. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Jack Mathews
    88
    Works on every level. The humor and language are as crude as an R rating allows, but Carell and Apatow's script is so hip, funny and - yes - innocent that it's never offensive.
  9. ReelViews
    Reviewed by: James Berardinelli
    88
    Rude, raunchy, uproarious, yet with elements that are surprisingly sweet.
  10. Premiere
    Reviewed by: Ryan Devlin
    88
    Even in the service of silliness, no one plays tragic, desperate, and beautiful better than Keener, who together with Carell, makes this film both laugh out loud funny and humane.
  11. Baltimore Sun
    Reviewed by: Chris Kaltenbach
    88
    Probably the most sweet-spirited sex comedy ever made. It's pretty funny, too.

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
7.6 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 252 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 129 out of 162
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 162
  3. Negative: 22 out of 162
  1. JaySupertramp
    5
    Solid movie with some laughs, but not really much more. It's all about his virginaty and that's funny for some time but does not last until the end of the movie... Steve Carrell did a good job. I think without him this movie would be even more boring by time. Co-Cast was good as well only the storyline was to weak to stand the 90 minutes.… Full Review »
  2. mitchm.
    1
    One laugh. Nuff said. (and that one was the already well-rehearsed chest waxing scene, which we'd all seen in trailers for month preceding) My expectations were admittedly high, and this sad flick dashed them to pieces. I could barely sit through it.… Full Review »
  3. alg.
    3
    I laughed once.
See all user reviews »