Dir. Craig Moss, USA, 2010, 82 mins
Cast. Bryan Callen, Mircea Monroe, Noureen DeWulf, Stephen Kramer Glickman, Austin Michael Scott, Steven Sims, Steven Nicholas
Review by Michelle Moore
Remember back to when you first watched Scary Movie, the flick that spoofed horror movies such as Scream. It was this movie that set off the latest trend in parody movies that we are still feeling the ripple of today. Alongside this franchise there has been a never-ending list including Epic Movie, Date Movie, Disaster Movie, Superhero Movie, Dance Flick, Not Another Teen Movie and more recently Vampire’s Suck. Some spoofed one particular move like the latter on the list while others spoofed a specific genre/group of films – teen flicks for example. Although some had their good points, the majority failed to impress. This year offers up a new addition to the list and it comes with the title ‘The 41 Year Old Virgin Who Knocked Up Sarah Marshall And Felt Superbad About It’ –I wonder which flicks are spoofed in this movie?
In terms of narrative, those individuals that have seen the films mentioned within the title may understand the two (terribly) interweaving plots a little more – Sarah Marshall/virgin and Superbad/fake ID’s. The two do not correspond well together, interlink or relate in any way enjoyable. There is also the misinterpretation within the title. The ‘41 year old virgin’ is in fact 40 and he did not knock up Sarah Marshall – she was blindfolded and his friend did the deed. As well as the titled movies, there is, of course, an incident with an apple pie and some folks that can only play games outside when there is a thunderstorm approaching – sound familiar? These particular scenes have been mentioned and reused so often over the years that they are now tiresome, dull and lack enjoyment.
Just as the title is predictable as to which movies are spoofed, as is the humour. From a woman becoming heavily pregnant over the course an evening, another getting hit by a car, stabbed and shot yet still remaining standing and neatly clothed and of course awkward bedroom situations and hairy bodies. There is not one single scene or situation that will have a viewer stunned or laughing with something original or innovative; even the swearing unborn child lacks in the comedy department.
In terms of casting, there are the occasional moments where some correlation can be seen between these characters and those they are attempting to portray from other flicks. Callen as Andy the virgin is nervous, blind to women and dull much like Steve Carell’s character in The 40 Year Old Virgin and Sims is excitable in his surroundings and is the spitting image of Jonah Hill. These are good traits to have in the film and because of this there is an understandable link between parody and actual film, but this is one of very few positive points.
It is no wonder this movie went straight to DVD. The title is long, the movie is dull and it consists of nothing other than predictability. It is about time movies were either left upspoofed or at least spoofed well, which this film is not.
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