The 40 Year Old Virgin - Unrated Double Your
Pleasure Edition (HD-DVD + DVD)
Picture:
B/B- Sound: B/B- Extras: B+ Film: B
Sometimes
you can get too much of a good thing. The
theatrical release of The 40 Year Old
Virgin contained the perfect balance of fun and raunch, presenting flawed
but lovable characters and a neat story about extended childhood and fear of
intimacy. This extended version includes
17 minutes of extra footage that serves only to muddy the waters a bit, adding
little additional spice to the mix.
The
additional raunch and ad-libbing worked back into this version distract from
the flow achieved by the tight script and pacing of the theatrical release, but
not enough to ruin the film as some have suggested. The ideal solution for "40 Year Old"
purists out there would have been to include both versions in this package. Still, this version maintains the laughs and
lovability of the theatrical release, but does suffer from some bloat. For the curious some of the more important
extra scenes include: a college flashback where Andy (played by Steve Carrell)
struggles to remove a woman's bra, extended porno viewing scene where Andy
imagines his own voice emanating from the actress' mouth, a poker scene with
alternate dialogue, an amusing exchange between Andy and Beth (Elizabeth Banks)
that flows like the old "Who's on First" bit from Abbott and
Costello.
The 1080p
1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image on the HD-DVD is better than the new or
previous standard DVD, but is still just richer enough to be the best picture
performer. The HD-DVD’s Dolby Digital
Plus 5.1 mix is better than the standard Dolby on the two DVD versions, but
again not by much and in this case because the comedy is dialogue-based for the
most part. This newer DVD is more loaded
with extras, so it is the preferred version if you do not have HD-DVD. The HD-DVD has all the extras, old and new.
The
extras in this box include a raft of deleted scenes, the highlight of which is
a much-extended version of the Date-a-palooza scene that provides a few more
laughs, but also some unfunny, almost head-scratching moments. Also included is
a feature-length commentary track featuring Apatow, Carell, Rudd and several
other members of the cast.
Overall
this offering is not the disaster some "purists" (if a sex-comedy can
have purists) make it out to be, but if the theatrical version scores a B+,
this one is merely a B.
- Scott R. Pyle
