40 Days and 40 Nights

40 Days and 40 Nights (2002)

Genres - Comedy, Romance  |   Sub-Genres - Romantic Comedy, Sex Comedy  |   Release Date - Mar 1, 2002 (USA)  |   Run Time - 96 min.  |   Countries - France, United Kingdom, United States  |   MPAA Rating - R
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Review by Derek Armstrong

One of those groan-inducing teenage sex comedies in which nobody acts like any human being you've ever encountered on the planet Earth, this mindless "comedy" from director Michael Lehmann literally has only two virtues: it is well-lit and well-cast. The former is self-explanatory, but in the latter category, the standouts are leads Josh Hartnett and Shannyn Sossamon, each of them hopefully on their way back to bigger and better projects with their foot-wide rows of pearly white teeth, angular cheekbones, and exquisite haircuts. Of course, that description matches a lot of wannabes in Hollywood, but the stars here actually possess the ability to act, and they do so with some vigor and persuasiveness, although the material doesn't require it and mocks them with each increasingly, stupendously stupid scene. One can only hope they'll reproduce and that their high-IQ offspring will refuse to even finish reading junk like the egregiously bad script upon which this dreck is based. Speaking of which, a note to those who would seek to mimic previously successful teen sex sagas: it is the pain of rejection (or potential rejection) that makes such stuff funny, from Animal House (1978) to American Pie (1999). Having your cast coupling up with more partners than the typical leads in a Spice Channel original movie kind of depletes the empathy factor for that 99.9% of the audience unaccustomed to getting busy with underwear models on a thrice-daily basis. A seriously moronic flick that is so blissfully free of any sort of insight, power, or even basic skills of behavioral and psychological observation that it borders on deranged; the Catholic League wasted its time protesting it.