Hey folks, Harry here with tons of looks at 40 DAYS & 40 NIGHTS.... now here's the thing... This movie seems to be pretty funny from what folks are saying, but it might be a bit on the infantile or lame for some others. Ultimately the humor probably comes from the whether or not imagining 40 days and nights without sex is hard to do. Like Den said, "18 years of nothing, then twice in the same day!" Here ya go...
Harry,
When I saw Edward's Marq*E 23, here in Houston, planned on previewing "40 Days & 40 Nights" Saturday Night at 7:20 I was torn, do I: A) alert the geeks from on high to this and, possibly, screw myself out of seeing it firsthand, or B) see it myself & risk turning in a sorry review for the site? I chose "B." So here's hoping I didn't "choose poorly." And it is long.
I took my partner in crime DangerLady to see this movie, because I like Josh Hartnett's work, even when he's the only one on screen worth viewing (Pearl Harbor, Here On Earth). Plus my Lady likes the sleazy, sexy "R"-rated stuff & I like a good laugh. Here's the review, I'll deal with my personal preferences on other films (to qualify my POV) right before spoilers.
Here's the set-up according IMDB: "A young man (Hartnett) breaks up with his girlfriend (Sossamon) and then tests himself by swearing off physical contact with girls for the 40 days of Lent, while his ex schemes to seduce him back into her life, breaking his vow."
Wow, that's not even close.
Matt Sullivan (Hartnett) broke-up with Nicole (Vinessa Shaw) six months ago & is hung up on her in the worst way. You know a guy like this, can't let her go (think Jon Favreau in Swingers). It's messing up his life & his friends all know it. We also establish, hilariously, Matt is a bad liar. Yet, he lies often. I can't stress enough that, for your own enjoyment, you accept this off the bat. I love movies where the main character IS "The Man." That isn't this movie. Accept it, or you'll be stuck in Three's Company Hell. I kept having problems with the way Matt acts and reacts to various events & situations. It was all because, despite having "Male Model" looks (and the script reflects it by having women throw themselves at him), the guy does not have the personality to match.
He's a Web Page Designer. HELLO?!!
Anyway, he finds out Nicole has moved on with her life. This guy is grasping at straws when inspiration hits. Lent. So he, decides to take the titular vow. No intimate touching of any kind, he must even become "the master of his domain". The conflict comes when, after making his vow, he meets Erica (Shannyn Sossamon) the princess from "A Knight's Tale." My Lady's enduring impression of Ms. Sossamon is "can't anyone do something with her hair?" Not yet.
I describe 'the pitch' as an "American Pie"-type of sex comedy for the Friends' crowd. Out in the open ribald humor. There is enough of nudity & sexual situations for the "R" Rating. I don't know if "Pie" gave any other men that "not-so-fresh feeling" when Ms. Elizabeth does her thing in Jason Biggs' room, BECAUSE she was, supposedly, in high school & you, young man, are 30-ish. It happened me, but the women you see here, my friend, are adults...out of college even. After the first thirty minutes or so, I turn the D'Lady & say "this is REALLY a guy movie, the advertising made it look like a date movie." She agreed at the time, but after seeing the whole thing - well - IT IS a date movie. Just not a "first date movie" or second or third... As matter of fact, if you're a guy, go see this with your crew of friends FIRST. That way you can laugh at the parts where the filmmakers WANT you to laugh. Then, you can decide when (if ever) to take your lady. This isn't "Sleepless in Seattle" or "You've Got Mail", either. Look up ribald after you look up tryst.
I liked the movie. I didn't love it. It isn't an important film. It's a fun movie. Enjoy it. I'll buy it, on DVD, when it comes out. It's worth seeing (once) at an evening showing (do the crew-thing at a matinee if you have doubts). Hartnett did a great job portraying an average guy with good looks and low self-esteem. Shannyn did good job playing a woman with good looks, but who makes poor choices on men (according to her). Ms. Shaw did a good job playing a bitch with above average looks (I'm sorry she didn't do anything for me), and the focus of my rant in the spoiler section. The roommate (how come every sidekick/roommate has to be a Seth Green knock-off?) did a great job and I really bought him as a friend.
Qualifications - what else did I like or what I hate?
Favorite All-Time: Aliens.
Loved (No particular order): All Four Star Wars'; Die Hard 1&2; Predator; Superman 2; Star Trek 2,6&8; Akira; Aladdin; Can't Buy Me Love; Hudson Hawk; Chasing Amy; Men In Black; Swingers; Lethal Weapon; True Lies; Grease 2; A Knight's Tale; Porky's; John Hughes' stuff 1984-1990; All Pixar's stuff; Raiders Of The Lost Ark; Ghostbusters; Trading Places; LOTR:FOTR; Titanic; Abyss; A Christmas Story; Eddie Murphy Raw; Pump Up The Volume; Clerks; Heathers; Sixth Sense; Batman Returns (my feelings on Batman are exactly the same as Harry's because I, too, read the original Sam Hamm script before the premiere - how cool would it have been to see Keaton drug by a subway train down the tunnel by his cape just to show how useless it was OR the flying Grayson's swinging from trapezes attached to helicopters just to have the Joker shoot them down as a distraction after the City Hall "Quill In The Neck" Attack OR Smylenol instead of Smilex OR Hamm's choice of Ray Liotta for Joker OR...nevermind)
Hated (No particular order): Highlander 2; Batman & Robin; Hope Floats
Now SPOILERS - I have refrained from telling you any kind of information that you can't get from the trailer, plus a bunch that you can. I hate when they spoil the movie with the trailer. So spoiler crybabies, begone...there are only spoilers below, except my sign off...
I'm...Batm...um...DangerMan.
Last chance...Spoilers to follow...
One...
Two...
Three...
Here goes.
First, the big one: Does he complete the vow? Nope...evil ex-girlfriend bitch places a bet & robs him of spiritual enlightenment...like that was gonna happen.
As you know (unfortunately from the trailers & commercials) all of Matt's friends, co-workers and everyone in the world know about his vow. And they are betting on WHEN he will fail.
The one thing I didn't pick-up from action IN the movie was this concept that Matt never finishes everything. Everyone's always telling him that he doesn't, but damned if he doesn't turn in web pages on time (early once he starts with the vow) and build model cars.
Anyway, Matt's problem at the beginning of the movie which we see depicted in a couple of scenes (second one is gut busting - I put Hartnett's fake orgasm up against Meg Ryan's any day) is a haunting vision (to him, not me). When facing the ceiling (it seems all his trysts are with women who prefer being on top - psychologically that's not insignificant) during sex the ceiling starts cracking to eventually, we are told but never see, break open and reveal a "black hole."
Okay. So he bolts from sex because he's not over Nicole. He can't even delete the JPEG's & MOV's of her on his MAC.
Anyway he decides on this vow thing. His roommate gets the story out of him, he tells the crew, some of which work with Matt. They start taking bets from all over the world, without telling Matt.
Meanwhile, Matt meets Erica while doing his laundry. The first scene in the laundromat was perfect. I've actually done what he does there - not respond to conversation from a pretty woman, because, in my case, I'm married. He's celibate, and planning on staying that way for about 36 more days. If he was smart, he would have (or would've, but not: would of) changed the day he washed his Mr. Bubbles T-shirt. But, see, that the thing about this guy, he's just not that way. He ought to breakdown and tell Erica, who works as a CyberNanny & finds out about the bet, everything about five different times in this movie & it's painful (in a train wreck sort of way) to see him not make the right choice. Robin Williams' voice as the genie, "...tell her the TRUTH!"
The Money Scene, or Last Detail Before the Rant.
The scene where they finally get comfortable enough to sit down and have that long talk ends great. Harry, this scene is going shoot flower sales through the roof. Get my broker...Buy FTD now! Matt gives Erica the big "O" with some flowers & well placed breathing.
Rant.
The bitch should've been locked up. The last day of the vow Matt gets blindly drunk in his apartment to ease his tension. Erica is coming (no pun intended) at Midnight. Roommate shows up with BDSM chick. "Seth" handcuffs Matt to his own bed so his hands don't do anything they shouldn't. But wait, we must leave the door unlocked for the fair Erica. Nicole, the ex-girlfriend who Matt actually said no to the previous night, places her bet. She then goes to Matt's apartment and...well...she wins the pot. But in this day and age of political correctness Matt should have gone to the Police and had her arrested for Sexual Assault. Hey, I understand in South Carolina that legally a woman CANNOT be raped if she is drunk, but these people live in the enlightened Mecca of Liberalism: San Francisco. While collecting her money, she would have to explain some details of Matt's undoing. The why's & wherefore's. She came in screwed him while he was drunk/passed out AND handcuffed to the bed. He has at least three witnesses to the crime. Two witnessed his helplessness when they left. One witnessed Nicole leaving the scene. Hey, what if Matt's character was a woman handcuffed and drunk and some ex-boyfriend came in and screwed her and as a result he won a bet?!! And nothing bad happens to him?!! The National Organization of Women would be picketing this movie around the clock. BUT...Matt's not that kind of guy. He lost Nicole. Now he's lost Erica, because she is the person who sees Nicole leave. He didn't finish the vow. He's defeated. He's lost the fight. If you don't get that you'll hate the movie, until (since this was made in Hollywood) he gets back together with Erica. At the laundromat. This is where he suddenly becomes "The Man". I MIGHT have preferred a "Chasing Amy" Ending.
I haven't touched on the minor story lines like Matt's boss, or Matt's parents, Nicole's fiancé, or Matt's brother, or the office girls who don't like Matt's attempt at "overthrowing the sexual balance of power", or the friends who have great lines, but forgettable faces, or the Seth Green-roommate's even better lines. All this I left alone, so that you may enjoy the humor that awaits.
Talkbackers, this was my first review...so...Flame On!
Rav here wants to grow up to be Shannyn Sossamon
Well yesterday i went and saw a lot of movies, heh. One of the films I saw was 40 Days and 40 Nights, it had quite an odd placement on my film-watching list yesterday: Eraserhead, Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier, Monster's Ball, Afraid of Everything, then 40 Days and 40 Nights (The Cruise and Orgazmo also followed after that hehe). After Eraserhead and Davy Crockett the room could not get any better, mmmmmmm that print of Eraserhead was so fucking cool. Well the day did get a tad bit better at the open sneak for the new Josh Hartnett comedy 40 Days and 40 Nights. It was one of these open national pay sneaks so i guess there should be about 45 other reviews of this movie by the time i send this out.
Ahhhh the mighty drawing power that may be Josh Hartnett, actually it was slightly disturbing, there were more single women there than singles night at the slappy lizard. It's like a Crossroads audience, but older by a few years; the film might be rated R but all that means is the teenage girls drag their parents along. A wolfpack of teenage girls corralled in halfway through, one of them remarked, "I hope we havent missed anything?" her friend next to her replied in sync to a shot of Josh Hartnett in his underwear bending over, "nah, looks like we came just in time." This really is what Miramax gets, for their entire ad-campaign revolves around cutesey-tootsey Josh Hartnett, too bad the MPAA typically doesn't approve of trailers with exposed breasts in them.
40 Days and 40 Nights is about, like you guys don't already know, Matt Sullivan a guy still recovering from a past long term relationship with his love, Nicole, which ended six months ago. How's he try to cope with losing her? Well he goes off and sleeps with every girl willing, which equates to just about a girl every night when you are Josh Hartnett. One day Matt finds out his ex has just got engaged to be married to a guy that shes only known for 2 weeks, this really fucks with Matt's head. Matt goes to his brother who is studying to be a priest, and winds up concocting the idea to give up sex for lent, well not only sex, any sexual contact of any kind masturbation touching foundling sucking, whatever the fuck. Matt's web-designing friends wind up catching word of this and start a betting pool to see what day he loses it and gives up. All of this is even more complicated when he meets his perfect girl played by Shannyn Sossamon.
Josh Hartnett is a sex freak i must say, it's hard to believe this guy manages to have sex with a new girl every night, go to work during the day, and still find to masturbate like a god damn spider monkey. The guy belongs in some sex addicts group not a fucking catholic church, but he does have good taste in porn i must say I mean if i had to look at any type of porn I'd watch temple of poon as well. For the 40 days and 40 nights Josh spends sexless in this film he really does live in hell, I mean I always invisioned hell living as Paulo Costanzo's roommate, apparently hell is also the same world in which Josh Hartnett can actually design a ad campaign/website or whatever the fuck he actually does in the film.
Shannyn Sossamon plays a really cool character, if i must say, her entire job is to look through internet porn all day (I WANT HER JOB!). She really comes off as sweet, caring, and likeable, completely believable chemistry with Hartnett, they really do come off as the perfect couple. Josh really does play it well, his desparity really works, and he actually can play very funny. An early scene in which Josh goes great lengths to fake an orgasm just works so damn perfectly. As the film moves further into the 40 days you will notice he is only surrounded by beautiful women, as he becomes more and more desperate every woman he see's becomes beautiful, and well fairly naked. Some of the best scenes come from these most-desperate moments at one point Josh flies through a valley of breasts in one of the coolest dream sequences ever.
Some of the gags fall flat, a subplot where his boss is also doing the vow falls very flat. A viagra gag just does not seem to come off right at one point, also Josh is a bit clumsy that leads to a lot of overdone physical "falling into things gags" which just dont work. The film also becomes very very predictable at times. The faults don't really seem to get in the way of the film too much, but they still exist.
Apparently a vow of celibacy is some sort of sexual-feminist-political strategy as Keegan Conner Tracy say's in the film it turns the whole system upside down. Thus this inspires women to throw themselves on top of celibate men in attempts to break the "movement". Now, being a great supporter of all things inspired by cinema, and by its own scientific merit, I myself am taking up this 40 day vow. With my 40 day vow of celibacy (in the words of the great cecille b. demented CELIBATE FOR CELLUIOD), I also am including its own 20 day vow of celibacy, if a beautiful women hasnt thrown herself at me in an attempt to break this vow I will be suing the producers of this film and the production company involved with this motion picture.
Overall 40 days and 40 nights is not the funniest thing out there (that would be Super Troopers right now), but it is still a very damn funny comedy.
This review is brought to you in all it's own un-spellchecked, un-proofread, grammatically challenged state by Rav-o-vision.
Ravvy
Mail Rav images of German shite fetishes!!!
Shaggy here thought it was pretty stupid...
First time reviewer. You can just call me shaggy.
I just got back from a sneak preview of 40 Days and 40 Nights. I am way up in the Panhandle of texas in Amarillo. Yes Amarillo. Yes we do watch movies up here and no we don't get good movies up here.
I am sure you have seen this movie. It is the story of a man who decides to swear off sex in all its forms for lent. Seems simple enough until Shannyn Sossamon shows up and I personally will find it impossible to at least masterbate to her tonight.
I have to say that I found the mov ie mildly entertaining and that was only because Shannyn Sossamon was in it. But honestly her scenes were so few that it wasn't such a great film.
It was kind of insulting on religion. One scene in particularly shows his brother, who is becomeing a priest, kissing a nun. Honestly I think that priests are a little stronger than that. I think that something as small as sex really doesn't get in their way.
There was also a scene where Josh Hartnett is flying around in a sea of breasts which was really, really stupid. Stupid might not be a very descriptive word but it is the only one I can think of.
Josh Hartnett is humorous at times but still I don't think that comedy is his strong point and really i am not sure acting is his strong point but that is a different review all together.
Shannyn Sossamon is beautiful. But in this movie she doesn't have much to work with. Again it is just a comedy but some of the greatest films are comedy so it isn't that wrong for me to expect a little something from it.
The filmakers even know that the movie is going bad. So what do they do? They throw in a few breasts here and there to make sure that all the males in the audience are paying attenton hoping that at the sight of such things the men will wake up and take notice.
The movie basically sucked but I laughed about 4 times.
Anyways thats I got.
shaggy
Here is a review that came with no nicks or names...
Hey Harry,
Normally I wouldn't send you in a review of a movie I just saw a sneak preview of but since there has been a lack of film reviews for it I minus well put one up. Just saw the sneak preview of 40 Days & 40 Nights, a comedy I've been waiting to see ever since the teaser trailer up for it which I found to be a truly excellent trailer. After finally leaving the movie I must admit I enjoyed it quite a bit, although I definatly wanted more.
The plotline is pretty straight-forward as most of you already know. Matt (Josh Hartnett) is a guy who recently broke up with his girlfriend after a long relationship that truly ruined him. He's been seeing many women but can't find anyone that can compare with her, but his heart is crushed when he finds out she's now engaged after seeing a new guy for only 2 weeks. He soon finds that if he wants to make things better for himself, he'll have to make a vow to not have sex or anything to do with sex (touching, kissing, masturbating, etc.) for 40 days. Of course this leads to meeting the girl of his dreams during these 40 days and his friends bet against him that he can't do it, but it's all just brought up to make one raunchy comedy that hits more than it misses in it's 90 minutes.
This might be (?) the first time Josh Hartnett has done comedy but I wouldn't be surprised if I was wrong, he seems quite comfortable in the film and handles the role very well. The film does have the strength of holding a plot line that allows it to get funnier as it progresses and things get more over-the-top as it goes along.
Sadly if you saw the recent R rated trailer released on the web recently you've already seen quite a few great moments of the film. I would hate to hold this against the film but it is quite true and those who haven't seen the new trailer should simply avoid it at all cost.
Other problems with the film would be that Matt's friends are a bit too much. Of course you can expect ones friend of finding out something like this to try and take advantage and ruin it for the person, but betting hundreds of dollars against him? I could also tell that there was a bit missing from the film due to pacing perhaps. I didn't expect to witness all 40 days of Matt's vow but it seemed to start jumping 10 days ahead at moments that make it seem that the vow isn't even the slightest bit difficult until he's already 30 days into it. The climax, or 40th day if you will, is also a bit of a letdown as it's just a little too out there and unbelieveable for the audience to buy.
This may all sound like I really didn't like the film, which I honestly did find it quite enjoyable and humorous. I just wanted a little more drama - for the film to take a side route and not try and outdo all the There's Something About Mary's, American Pie's, Scary Movie's and other recent sex comedies and just work better as a film on its whole and stands out from all the rest. Sure it probubly sounds like I'm asking for the Say Anything of sex comedies but this film is directed by the same man that brought us Heathers, so I did have a bit of high expectations for it. So in the end I was a bit disappointed but I may still find myself seeing it again in the future.
Out of four stars, I'd give 40 Days & 40 Nights
somewhere between a 2.5 and 3.
Now for Jefferson Smith....
40 DAYS & 40 NIGHTS review
Some SPOILERS!!!
First off, I'm a big fan of this site. I've been visiting for years now and it's the first web site I check out daily.
A couple of hours ago, I saw 40 DAYS & 40 NIGHTS at an AMC employee screening. For those who aren’t familiar, the plot has Josh Harnett playing a guy who gives up sex (and also masturbation, kissing, fondling, etc.) during the 40 days of Lent. Complications arise when his friends and coworkers start making bets on his failure and when he meets a girl he starts liking.
The movie was entertaining. I didn’t love it, but I didn’t hate it. It made me smile and it made me laugh a couple of times too. Hartnett pouring ice water down his pants to get rid of his involuntary erection was a hilarious image. But there’s a good chance the movie will be gone from my memory in a month or two because it just didn’t feel memorable. The ending could’ve been funnier.
For some reason, the previews for 40 DAYS… made it feel like a PG-13 movie. But this is very R rated (which wasn’t a problem for me). I don’t think I have ever seen a movie so casual about the subject of jerking off before.
Millions of girls will be watching this movie for Josh Hartnett. Every female friend I have is in love with this guy! They’ll also like the love story of Hartnett and Shannyn Sossamon as they fall for each other. And I must admit, there was a sweetness to their meeting scenes at the laundromat.
As for the guys, I’m not sure how you feel about Hartnett. I thought he was likable. It’s hard NOT to like a guy who goes through so much humiliation in a movie. In a way, it felt like this movie was aimed for guys more than it was aimed for girls. There were some naked women in the movie. There were attractive women trying to seduce the guy instead of the other way around. There were two girls French kissing each other. There was even a partial glimpse of Shannyn Sossamon’s nipple. And the main reason why it felt like a guy’s movie is because a lot of guys will be able to relate to constantly being horny and the sexual frustration of not getting laid (especially you film geeks!).
The comedy of the movie was not as mature as MEET THE PARENTS, but it was more mature than AMERICAN PIE. (Even though both those movies are better than 40 DAYS…) There were also times when the movie felt…weird. I think it was the use of dream sequences. There was one especially weird one where Josh Harnett is actually flying above hundreds of mountain-like breasts.
As I watched the movie, I asked myself a couple of questions: Does Hartnett giving up sex because he’s trying to get over his ex-girlfriend really that great of a plan? Can you really give a girl an orgasm with a flower petal? How come women in movies are more horny and sexually active than in real life? - or maybe I’m not meeting the right sluts – I mean, girls.
-JEFFERSON SMITHOh, one more tidbit. I finally saw GOSFORD PARK. Am I the only one that thought it was really boring!!!???
