Matt Sullivan’s (Josh Hartnett) girlfriend Nicole (Vinessa Shaw) has left him 6 months ago but he is still not over her. Sure, he is having sex with the attractive women he meets but as he comes to realize, sex has stopped being fun for him. He doesn’t really feel anything, despite being on the verge of having panic attacks during it.
One day, through an encounter with a priest, he gets a “bright” idea: He will not have sex for 40 days. Not only that, but he will stay away from any sex-related activity (doing it himself included), foreplay, kisses, holding hands, touching….He will use these 40 days to fully cleanse himself.
But almost as soon as he starts, he meets a beautiful, laid-back and fun girl named Erica (Shannyn Sossamon- A Knight’s Tale, Moonlight). He can’t stay away from her so he at least tries his hand at being friends. But of course by this time, his friends have set up a webpage about his “mission” and ridiculous amounts of bets are being placed on when he just might explode.
Erica is furious at finding out but given that she is really into Matt, she tries the friends thing too. The problem is –since there is money at stake for others- they just might go out of their way to seduce Matt. So can Matt succeed his mission, say no to temptation and manage not to screw things up with Erica all at once? After all, there is only so much one man is capable of…
40 Days and 40 Nights is a romantic comedy that is as unisex as it goes. If anything, guys might enjoy it even more. Sure, everything concerning Erica is sensual and well romantic but as a girl, you can’t really care about Matt’s problem. It is not a reason not to have a couple of laughs, pitying Matt. It might also very well be the only movie where the guy fakes an orgasm so that he can get it over with. This does get originality points.
Favorite Scene: The very final scene. No, not because the movie is finally over. Because it is ridiculous but also funny. Co-starring is Paul Costanzo as Matt’s best friend, who you might remember from the Friends’ spinoff Joey. He played Joey Tribianni’s nephew.
This is not the funniest romcom out there. Or the most romantic. Its 5.4 IMDB rating seems about fair, as it is only just a bit of fun. But since not many romcoms are focusing on “real male issues”, it might be a good date film. Although guys may not really feel sorry for Matt at all either…5/10 from me. Still, I will take this one over the extremely predictable, clichéd and boring Pearl Harbor anyday (which is another Josh Hartnett movie, also rated at 5.4).
