| I get the feeling that the script for 40 Days and 40 Nights at
one point was a really funny and insightful look on the modern relationship between sex
and religion. But then, American Pie came out, was really popular,and they decided
that there was no room in the marketplace for a movie that talked about sex in an
intelligent way which didn't have any come or boner jokes. Its too bad because it the
audience's loss. There's some really good material here and it's the first time where the
filmgoing audience has got to see Josh Hartnett as a leading man. And he doesn't screw it
up. He even has some really good chemistry with his love interest played by Shannon
Sossoman, the really gorgeous chick from A Knight's Tale. But the jokes about
Viagra and old people having sex? Mmm...that stuff isn't really good at all. Hartnett
plays Matt Sullivan, a hot guy who lives in the trendy city of San Francisco and has a
really trendy job with a dotcom. (That smacks of some stale material.) He has also just
been dumped by his really hot girlfriend Nicole. This has caused him a great deal of
anxiety. Every time he is confronted with sex, the walls of the room start to crack and
reveal a dark black hole that looks as though it will suck up his manhood. This is
actually pretty funny and director Michael Lehmann (Heathers, The Truth about Cats and
Dogs) puts a really light yet engaging touch to these delusions. In an attempt to
extract some advice about his sexual troubles, Matt consults with his brother who is in
seminary school. These two banter back and forth and reach some interesting nuggets of
dialogue that feel like they were written by Kevin Smith. It is from these conversations
that Matt decides to give up all forms of sex (Intercourse, intimate touching, and
masturbation) for lent. He takes up the vow in church and gives the statue of Jesus on the
cross a big thumbs up as he's walking out. You may call it sacrilege,but Jesus was just a
dude. Why not give him a thumbs up?
Already we're twenty minutes into the film and I'm totally digging this movie. But
then, once we get the setup, the film takes a virtual nose dive for the rest of it
duration. Now, at this point, most critics are going to go into this little rant: Oh
yeah, it must be really really hard for someone who looks like Josh Hartnett NOT to have
sex for forty days. Only someone HOT like that would have HOT people throw themselves into
the path of their pants. Well, until Hollywood starts employing only ugly people in
film, then I'll decide to go ahead and take a leap of faith with the film. No, my beef
with this film is that we get this monotone, flat comic pattern where Matt's hot female
coworkers and his fat, schlubby male friends try to get him to get off anyway they can.
It's all pretty embarrassing, but the one that puts a dagger into my heart is when Griffin
Dunne (Yes, our guy who is the director of Lisa Picard is Famous!), as Matt's boss,
accidental drinks some Viagra-spiked orange juice meant for Matt and then spends the rest
of his screen time beating off in the men's room. Ha-ha. In between all of this, Matt has
met Erica (Sossoman) at a Laundromat. These two actually have a really good spark yet the
film chooses to focus more on the boner jokes. Of course, when the two are on screen, they
are forced to go through all the stupid hoops that the romantic comedy script has set up
since the introduction of the moving picture. (Or, as Ebert would say, things like the
Great Misunderstanding, the False Hope-Real Hope and False Dawn-Real Dawn.) The message of
the film seems to be that there's more to relationships than sex (????) which is really
good and really healthy. But then that's sold out at the end for the sake of more cheap
sex jokes.
But even during the most trite and painful crap, I could still see where this film
could have went and what it would have said. In the climax, Matt chains himself to his bed
and comments that he must look like Christ on the cross in that position. Geez, this is
the second time Josh has been crucified in the past year alone. This movie seemed to have
more on its mind and I imagine the original script made more analogies to Matt with Jesus
fasting and resisting temptation in the desert. Erica could have been played more like
Mary Magnalene and it seems that Lehmann knew this because they have a lot of their best
scenes have this "we're pure but impure" feel to them. There's a lot the
director does with that Laundromat where they meet. He even throws the camera into a
washing machine and watches the two as they get "soaked" in the purifying suds.
I mean, Matt's roommate even lets out his secret in an act of betrayal. He's just like
Judas! It almost makes me kind of mad that these components were left in because the
material just gets marooned as though it's looking for a better film. But what do I know?
I live in a college town and the entire sorority population was in the audience and soaked
it up like they were drinking Jolly Rancher flavored-Zimas. Maybe I saw what they didn't
see. Maybe I saw the great religious/sexual debate that 40 Days and 40 Nights could
have been. Or maybe I have totally fell off the deep end. I'm not really sure. Perhaps I
should give up sex comedies for lent. That's some self-denial that might do me some good.
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