40 Days stays true to comedy
By Brian Tanaka
The conventions of the romantic comedy are few and simple. One: set up the relationship in a clever way. Two: Have the two characters fall in love. Three: Add a clever twist that breaks them apart. Four: Have them make up and live happily ever after.
Michael Lehmann's 40 Days and 40 Nights is a conventional romantic comedy with a gimmick, Lent. It follows all the generic conventions of the romantic comedy while adding the much-insisted, hardly-needed innuendo of visual shock humor.
Many months have passed since Nicole broke up with Matt (Josh Hartnett). He has gone on with his life, but every time he gets intimate with another woman, he feels an emptiness (hallucinated by Matt as the ceiling cracking and about to fall on him). To combat his delusions and lingering attachment to Nicole, Matt decides to give up sex and all things sex related for Lent.
His first days run by quite smoothly, leading Matt to believe that this is the best idea he's ever had, but his reputation as a womanizer has lead to something more. At the office, a "trendy" dot-com company based in San Francisco, his associates have created "The Vow," an online betting ring where viewers can bet on which day Matt will crack.
Around day six, Matt goes to a laundromat and meets Erica (Shannyn Sossamon), an unconventional woman that gives Matt everything he's looking for in a meaningful relationship ... and works for a dot-com company. Matt eventually falls in what he thinks is love, but the limitations of Lent are destroying his chances with Erica. Matt must try to not only swoon his new love, but also avoid his sexual temptations.
This new film is yet another of Hollywood's attempts to prove to the masses that sex is far more important than the relationship, which ironically works against everything it sets itself up to be. The whole reason why Matt decides to give up sex and its counterparts is to find an alternative perspective on how to build a relationship. Instead of finding this epiphany, the film becomes a marathon stretch on when Matt can finally have sex with Erica.
Matt comes away from his abstinence realizing nothing, and ultimately going back to the mentality that brought him into the situation to begin with. The chemistry between Matt and Erica reflect a general interest, but that quickly spins over as they insist that having sex is the only proving ground to show their love for each other.
Hartnett provides his usual congested personality as the main man Matt, and since this is a comedy (or so we believe), he is given the tragic idiosyncrasy of the romantic comedy protagonist: the prat-fall.
Following the lines of Julia Roberts in My Best Friend's Wedding and Matthew Perry in The Whole Nine Yards, Harnett trips into curbs, walls, safety cones, and ... ah, yes ... our hearts. The latter statement aside, Hartnett displays enough comedic nervousness and wide eyes to garner some praise for his role, but only after the comedic help of his associates and more specifically, his roommate (Paulo Costanzo).
The humor that does come throughout the film is scarce. Whether or not one can get into the loads of boner-and-breast jokes is a matter of taste, but 40 Days lacks any creativity other than the gimmick. Its intentions are sound in trying to find humor in abstinence and relationships, but it eventually turns into a bland story of a man who can't get what he wants. C+