Reviews from The Movie Snob

The 40-Year-Old Virgin (B+). Here’s a romantic comedy with a protagonist that I could really relate to—yes, like Andy Stitzler, I too am a 40-year-old unmarried guy. Okay, I’m only 37.7, but that’s close enough for me to be able to relate to the hapless Andy. (And feel pangs of envy over the awesome framed Asia poster he has hanging in his apartment.) This movie has been reviewed enough that I can skip plot synopsis and go straight to my opinion, which is that this movie is much funnier than that other raunch-comedy/summer-hit, Wedding Crashers. I’m not entirely sure why that is—maybe because this movie does not linger on the "serious" romantic plotline between Andy (Steve Carell) and Trish (Catherine Keener) the way Crashers crashed on the Owen Wilson-Rachel McAdams relationship. Instead, 40 gives a lot more attention to the amusing antics of the secondary characters, especially Andy’s three well-meaning friends and co-workers who try to help him overcome his, um, romantic abnormality. Although the film goes a little overboard to make Andy an unusual character (surely not every 40-year-old virgin collects vintage action figures and rides a bicycle to work), I still found myself able to relate to his situation. Also, I salute the nice use of the classic song Believe It Or Not (Theme From "The Greatest American Hero").

Bottle Rocket (C). A friend loaned me this DVD, which I assume was the first movie to be directed by Wes Anderson (Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou). Written by a very young Owen Wilson and starring him and his brother Luke, the movie is about three friends in their twenties, all drifting aimlessly through life in some anonymous suburb. Owen’s character, however, has a plan to break them out of their stultifying existence. Unfortunately, his plan is for them to turn to a life of crime. After their first heist is unexpectedly successful, they go on the lam and hide out in a cheap motel for a long spell that is almost like a different movie within the movie. The movie is not nearly as bent as Anderson’s later work (which I think is a good thing), but unfortunately the story is a little slight for a full-length feature. Still, not a bad freshman effort, and it’s kind of fun to see Owen Wilson’s now-patented screen persona in embryo form.