Saw The 40 Year Old Virgin recently. Hilarious. The title gives away the premise, which sounds suspiciously thin, but the story and Steve Carell pull it off. The movie manages to make fun of and sympathize with the eponymous dweeb all at the same time (much the way Galaxy Quest did).
One nitpick (as a friend pointed out) is that Andy Sitzer, Steve Carell’s character, rides a bike, the implication being that bike riding (like everything else Andy does) is juvenile. Feh. Catherine Keener was great as always. The first few movies I saw her in had her protraying a cast-iron bitch of one variety or another; she’s good at that, but I like her as a sympathetic character just as well.
Bike riding – juvenile? They obviously haven’t read Adam Rice’s stories of how to break your hip twice within a half decade!
The first movie I saw Catherine Keener in was Walking and Talking. She plays a completely unassuming but gently neurotic singleton. Liev Schrieber is her unrequited love interest. And Ann Heche, of all people, plays the bitchy best friend. All of Keener’s subsequent edgy bitch roles took me a little by surprise because she was so convincing as a slightly needy everywoman.
… and manage to make what is for all intents and purposes a 100% recovery!
(Er, that last comment was a rejoinder to Andrea’s comment.)