If ever there was a one joke film...So as you may have guessed this is all about a dude who is the ripe old age of 40 and has yet to have jiggy jiggy. Just looking at the cast line up and director for this film you know exactly what to expect comedy wise, there's gonna be infantile toilet humour and lots of sexual innuendos.
But wait! its not all like that, its not gone completely down the 'Deuce Bigalow' route, beneath all the visual gags and nerd references there is actually a heart warming rom-com here. The film kicks off as you would expect and its really quite amusing, Carell is perfectly cast as the simple lonely virgin in his amazingly decent and spacious flat, How does he afford that place with the job he's in?! Naturally Carell's character has been given the stereotypical nerd look, the silly childish way most males would perceive a single middle aged man with no girlfriend.
Andy's home is a haven for all sci-fi comic book merchandise geeks everywhere, a treasure trove of collectibles, action figures, boxed action figures, posters etc...the rather over used and cliched stereotypical view on single guys that might play Dungeons & Dragons too much. Admittedly it is amusing but it does kinda wane quickly to be honest, much like the humour. At first it is funny watching Carell struggle to fit in with his alcohol consuming friends, its probably awkward for most as I'm sure many of us have actually been in that position. Trying to fit in with your mates and not stick out like a sore thumb, we can all relate to these things at some point in our lives and this is why it does hit home and make you cringe and smile at the same time.
Problem was for me it all got very old very fast. The whole infantile college boy type humour, trying to score and pull birds, drinking whilst mocking Andy for the fact he gets more aroused by movie collectibles rather than women (at times). I do like Seth Rogan so that did help along the way, he always comes across like a lunatic about to flip which is hilarious. Thing is once we've had the 'outing' of Andy and the first few attempts to get him laid it just becomes boring.
As we get towards the end of course things get mushy as Andy does find the right woman, they have spats, realise they are meant for each other and eventually naturally become an item, happily ever after. Yeah yeah spoiler alert but who cares, like you can't see that coming a mile off. On the whole you gotta give kudos to Carell for making Andy such a likeable guy and to Keener for giving such a touching caring performance as his older girlfriend. Thanks to them the film is elevated above a silly comedy purely about having sex. As for that song n dance routine at the very end...what the hell was that about?!
5/10
I didn't like the over-used cliche, as you mentioned, that guys who like comic books, action figures, etc MUST be crap with women, but it was still a pretty fun film, mainly thanks to Steve Carrell :)
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