Wednesday 2 June 2010

40 Days and 40 Nights (2002)

Director: Michael Lehmann
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Shannyn Sossamon, Paulo Costanzo
Genre: romantic comedy
Certificate: 15
Rating: ****

A romantic comedy always follows the same layout - boy meets girl, fall in love, something separates them for awhile, one apologises, finally get together, etc. This is no different, other than that it extends the 'something separates them...' part over three different 'somethings'. This perhaps is unnecessary, but at least it separates this film from all the other romantic comedies out there.

Yes, this film is charming in a sexual, occasionally vulgar way, but it is also laugh-out-loud funny and a relatively realistic display of a couple falling in love. Without the sex. Hartnett's peformance is genius, from his awkwardness to his various states of arousal. The plot is exceptional - using Lent to give up all sexual contact for 40 days, but unfortunately meeting who is most probably 'The One' during that time.

My one main criticism is the CGI - flying over mountains of breasts should look relatively realistic (the flying part - the cartoon-like visuals of the breasts did, for some reason, work pretty well).

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