Since the 1999 release of “American Pie”, the genre of sex-comedies finally returned to the big screen. While “American Pie” remains the best of them all along with its 2001 sequel, many sex comedies didn’t survive the box office or the critical press. The problem with sex comedies is that they’re too testosterone driven and it’s nothing more of a blatant excuse to see naked women. After a couple of years, the formula got to wear thin as some wondered how to keep the genre alive. In early 2002, Miramax decided to take a shot on the genre but add more of a storyline to the genre. The idea was great but the end result came out unsatisfactory and that film is known as "40 Days & 40 Nights”.

Written by Robert Perez and directed by Michael Lehmann, "40 Days & 40 Nights” takes the sex comedy to more idiotic heights led by teen heartthrob Josh Hartnett. The film is about a young man, reeling from the breakup of a longtime girlfriend, who decides to give up sex or anything sexual for 40 days and 40 nights. He finds his life to be a lot simpler but it becomes problematic when he meets a new girl and he’s even more messed up than ever. Now the plot might be a little silly but along the way are some excellent moments in the film as it takes place in San Francisco. With Hartnett leading the cast, comes in such young actors like Shannyn Sossaman, Vinessa Shaw, Paulo Costanzo, Adam Trese, and current breakthrough star Maggie Gyllenhaal. Add a few performances from veterans Griffin Dunne, Barry Newman and Mary Gross, comes an interesting ensemble movie, well not exactly. While the film does have a few brilliant and inspired moments, "40 Days & 40 Nights” is just another silly sex comedy that tries to take itself too seriously.

The film begins with a flashback of film and pictures as Matt Sullivan (Josh Hartnett) looks into his computer and wonders how his relationship with longtime girlfriend Nicole (Vinessa Shaw) fell apart. He tries to get help from his friend/roommate Ryan (Paulo Costanzo) and his priest-in-training brother John (Adam Trese) but comes with no solutions. Plus, an increasing amount of paranoia sets in for Matt as whenever he is having sex with different kinds of women, he sees cracks on his ceiling as if an earthquake was coming. The incident gets worse one night as Ryan tells Matt that Nicole really screwed up his mind. If that wasn’t bad enough, Mart got news from the Bagel guy (Michael Macabebe) that he saw a “Congratulations” sign for Nicole who is getting engaged.

Matt immediately goes nuts and he hears about Lent, a Catholic period where you sacrifice something for 40 days. Matt tells his brother John that he will give up anything sexual including masturbating, porno, and all sorts of stuff for 40 days and 40 nights. John thinks he’s nut for doing it and he later decides to do it to for his priesthood training. Ryan finds out that Matt is doing the Lent thing and is freaked about the whole thing that he tells many of Ryan’s co-workers at a Internet company they work for led by their hip boss Jerry (Griffin Dunne). Ryan and many of the male co-workers decide to go for a pool to see how long Matt could last without doing anything sexual.

Matt finds life to be very simple without sex until one day in his usual Laundromat; he meets up with Erica (the beautiful, exotic Shannyn Sossaman) and becomes intrigued by her. The two decides to go on dates but Matt isn’t up to kissing her or do anything because of his Lent vow as Erica begins to question his behavior to her roommate and co-worker Samantha (the extremely beautiful and brilliant Maggie Gyllenhaal) who tells her that he’s just trying to make her look foolish. Matt eventually finds out about the pool that’s going on and learns it’s being watched online including Erica’s online company. Matt tells Erica about his thing and she accepts it, at first until a disastrous dinner date where he gets lit with fire after seeing Nicole and her fiancé.

The bet gets worse as female co-workers try and seduce him just to try to win the pool while the male co-workers go through all lengths to make him snap as the pool begins to end. Even at one point, they try to spike his orange juice with Viagra but Matt doesn’t drink it, instead it’s Jerry who drinks it as he ends up jacking off in the men’s bathroom several times. Matt even gets more uncomfortable when he and John went to eat at their parents (Mary Gross and Barry Newman) where they talk about all this sex stuff that really grosses out the kids, especially from their parents’ mouth.

Matt decides to meet up with Erica again as they go for a silly yet orgasmic experience with white flowers that is filled with hilarity that even her roommate Samantha couldn’t believe she got an orgasm from a flower and the fact that Matt didn’t touch her. As Day 40 approaches, Nicole comes to Matt wanting to get back together but Matt refuses as she learns about the pool and take part and all hell breaks loose. So does Matt get back with Nicole or go with Erica? Who won the pool? Does his brother succeed with Lent? And why in the hell do we even care at this point?

While the screenplay is a bit silly and at times gets a bit uninteresting, "40 Days & 40 Nights” isn’t as bad as some seem it would be. I do have to give director Michael Lehmann credit for capturing the tranquility and cultural landscape of San Francisco and its young, vibrant 20-something scene. While Josh Hartnett has a few excellent moments in the film, he struggles way too much in the movie trying to either be funny or overly dramatic. His character ends up freaking me out in the end. Shannyn Sossaman provides the film’s best performance as the unique, quirky Erica that is filled with great energy and timing. For someone who’s already done three excellent performances in three films, she’s already making a name for herself as a beautiful, talented actress. The Nicole character played by Vinessa Shaw in my opinion is the least interesting character of the whole movie. She starts out as a lovely girlfriend who later turns into a sexpot b*tch with no real balance or emotions and plus, I really couldn’t take Shaw seriously as an actress, I’m not sure if this or her role in “Corky Romano” is the worst thing she’s done.

While the veteran Griffin Dunne does an excellent job in the film as Hartnett’s boss, it’s the male supporting cast of Paulo Costanzo and Adam Trese that provides some of the best performance. Costanzo, who was already famous for his role in “Road Trip”, does an excellent job as the sympathetic, hilarious Ryan who tries to help Matt with his problems and in the end, starts to become less chauvinistic towards women. Trese as Matt’s brother John is also funny as a priest who is both a bit philosophical and realistic but eventually learns that he needs to do a lot more to become a priest. Another supporting performance that is worth noting but disappointing at the same time is from Maggie Gyllenhaal. Throughout the movie, she pretty much looks bored as she tries to get Shannyn Sossaman to not act foolish and I think her character was underused throughout the whole film. Gyllenhaal provides as a voice of reason for Sossaman’s character and eventually comes to the side of Hartnett, I think she could’ve been used more if Robert Perez made her character a bit bigger and more interesting so she wouldn’t look as bored in the film. The rest of the performances from the co-workers in the movie are pretty forgettable and you couldn’t remember their names or anything since they don’t stand out as much as the rest of the actors.

Despite some excellent moments and inspiring performances, "40 Days & 40 Nights” ends up becoming a very disappointing film that tries to act as a smart, romantic-comedy. While the performances of Sossaman, Costanzo, Trese, and to lesser extents, Hartnett and Gyllenhaal have their moments, it’s not enough to save the film. Filled with silly storylines, crazy sex escapades, and formulaic love plot lines, "40 Days & 40 Nights” ends up becoming an average film. The real problem with film was that they went for more crazy storylines that makes the movie more appeal to teens and less focus on the writing. If they had improved the screenplay and Josh Hartnett doesn’t freak people out more, it would’ve been a much better film. Sadly, that will never happen so it’s best to find something that is smarter than "40 Days & 40 Nights”.


Recommended:
No

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older