I have recently discussed one of the great mysteries to 2005-- the fact that
40 Year-Old Virgin has gotten more attention than the other R-rated comedy
Wedding Crashers. Both films are funny mind you, but when compared to one another there is no contest;
Wedding Crashers is a much funnier, and therefore better, movie.
But let's take a look and see why a person would choose one over the other.
Wedding Crashers was everything a moviegoer could want. Filling the romance genre with R-rated, 'raunchy', comedy turned out to be box office gold. The film was able to pull in $209M in domestic ticket sales and $283M overall. These incredibly solid numbers worked as an indicator on how incredibly good
Wedding Crashers is.
The film featured Vince Vaughn back in his element, Owen Wilson in one of his best roles, Rachel Adams as adorable as ever, Will Ferrel in probably his best cameo and the always great Christopher Walken; what more can moviegoers want?
Apparently not much looking at the ticket sales above.
The only problem I had with
Wedding Crashers is, well, I can't think of a single problem I had with the film; except (maybe) that the downhill slide segment of Wilson's character may have been a couple minutes too long (and that is being picky).
Best Aspects:
The film is a near flawless combination of romance and R-rated comedy. It has been credited for a revival of the 'raunchy-comedy' genre.
And now we have
The 40 Year-Old Virgin starring Steve Carell as a man who has never gotten any.
The story behind the film sounded great with tons of possibilities to jump upon. However, instead of taking advantage of Steve Carell's outrageous side, the film has his character played down and almost too quiet. Sure, the joke of being a virgin is funny, but even the best jokes die out once told to the same person one-hundred times.
That is all
40 Year-Old Virgin was to me-- an OK comedy that relied on placing a single joke on a continuous loop.
After about an hour of the film I was already burnt out and ready to light the cigarette.
The
40 Year-Old Virgin only experienced half the box office numbers that
Wedding Crashers did.
My big mystery of 2005: AFI listed The 40 Year-Old Virgin as a top ten film for 2005 with no mention of Wedding Crashers. What?!
Best Aspects:
The story, losing your virginity at age 40, offered tons of comedic possibilities; even though only a couple options were used. Steve Carell is funny, but not as funny as he was in either Bruce Almighty or Anchorman.
Conclusion:
Easy choice-- Wedding Crashers by a long shot. But maybe I am wrong and am not thinking of the general population of moviegoers out there. Be sure to vote and we will see what people really think.
