Reviews provided by RottenTomatoes
Connie Ogle, Miami Herald: Hilarious and imaginatively crude with a surprising sweet and subtle aftertaste that prevents it from flopping, limp and brainless, into the sugary abyss of romantic predictability. Read more
Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: The 40-Year-Old Virgin disarms us -- it is, at its heart, a sweet-natured romantic comedy. Unfortunately, you have to clear away a fair bit of debris to find that heart. Read more
Allison Benedikt, Chicago Tribune: The answer is, unequivocally, yes. Yes, Steve Carell can carry a movie. Read more
Robert Denerstein, Denver Rocky Mountain News: An undeniably likable quality helps make this smutty, silly late-summer entry more entertaining than many of its more polished counterparts. Read more
Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle: Despite a very lowbrow premise, the profanity-packed script is hilarious, and it also has a good heart. Read more
David Edelstein, Slate: The 40-Year-Old Virgin is too long, too sexist, and too -- shall we say -- flaccid. Read more
Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: I think this is one of the summer's biggest, most pleasant surprises. Read more
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: This character-driven comedy, with its excellent cast and let's-get-nutty finale featuring songs from Hair, is well worth your time. Read more
Nathan Rabin, AV Club: Apatow genuinely loves his hero, and the film's innate sweetness carries it through the rough patches of a funny comedy with a central relationship that isn't particularly funny. Read more
Bill Muller, Arizona Republic: A nostalgic, sentimental and wholly bawdy comedy that will make you laugh until your sides hurt. Read more
Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: [Carell's] touched us for the very first time. Read more
Carina Chocano, Los Angeles Times: A surprisingly sweet and funny ode to male friendship and middle-aged love. Read more
Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle: The whole film is about embarrassment, about those moments of clammy vulnerability when the world just turns and stares. Read more
Paul Clinton (CNN.com), CNN.com: The good-natured tone of the film and the wonderful comedic talents of the entire cast -- especially Carell -- make the gross-out moments charmingly relatable. Read more
Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: The 40-Year-Old Virgin offers some sparkling insights about the cumulative effects of performance anxiety, about how guys struggle with the transit from boys to men with little help from their pals. Read more
Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: The 40 Year-Old Virgin is buoyantly clever and amusing, a comedy of horny embarrassment that has the inspiration to present a middle-aged virgin's dilemma as a projection of all our romantic anxieties. Read more
Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News: Balances gross-out humor with moments of genuine wit and even a little warmth. Read more
Scott Foundas, L.A. Weekly: An unconscionably funny sex farce that, by its end, turns into a tender and honest romance, an acute portrait of loneliness and, believe it or not, a musical. Read more
Gene Seymour, Newsday: Those looking for the coarse, sometimes cheap laughs promised by the movie's attention-getting title won't be disappointed. Read more
Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Carell brings something funny, and oddly real to Andy -- a touch of embarrassment, a bit of self-loathing, a genuinely sweet concern. Read more
Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: Carell and Apatow's script is so hip, funny and -- yes -- innocent that it's never offensive. Read more
Andrew Sarris, New York Observer: Count me among the naysayers. Read more
Manohla Dargis, New York Times: Steve Carell plays the title character in a charmingly bent comedy about a likable geek's progress from action figures to real action. Read more
Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: It's a little long, a lot lowbrow. But The 40-Year-Old Virgin is a stitch. See it if you could use a laugh. Read more
James Berardinelli, ReelViews: If you're looking for a successor to There's Something About Mary and American Pie, look no further. It has arrived. And, if I may be so bold, this is more enjoyable than either of them. Read more
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: The 40-Year-Old Virgin is surprisingly insightful, as buddy comedies go, and it has a good heart and a lovable hero. Read more
Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: If it were 20 minutes shorter, it would be that much closer to perfect. Read more
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: The 40-Year-old Virgin maintains a deft balancing act, playing raunchy sight gags and rude dialogue against heartfelt moments. Read more
Jason Anderson, Globe and Mail: If only losing it was so good for everybody. Read more
Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star: The 40 Year-Old Virgin speaks to the geek in us all, it's democratic in its ridicule, and it makes you understand why sometimes a guy just wants to stay home and talk to his toys. Read more
Time Out: At its best it resembles one of those classic early-'80s comedies starring Steve Martin -- the thinking man's Woody Allen -- boasting an acute mix of desperation, dignity, lunacy and indecorous wit. Read more
Claudia Puig, USA Today: It's worth making a date with The 40-Year-Old Virgin. You won't go home disappointed. Read more
Jessica Winter, Village Voice: [Continues the trend] whereby ethnic inclusiveness can write a blank check for ethnic stereotyping and the homo-panic jokes are supposed to be on the hetero lunkheads, not on, y'know, the gays. Read more
Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: Filthy, funny and sweet in equal measure. Read more