There is no way around it: it has been a long, agonizing summer for everyone. As if recent events both here and abroad haven't been enough to deal with, the selections of box-office wannabe behemoths have not delivered on their mega-marketed promise. This season, laughter seems to be the best medicine to what ails us, starting with last month's Wedding Crashers and now continuing with another better-than-expected ribald adult comedy, The 40 Year Old Virgin.

Steve Carell, who stole last year's Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy and is currently starring in the American remake of The Office, delivers a terrific, star-making turn as Andy Stitzer. Andy is a 40-year old male who works in an electronics retail store, lives alone in an apartment adorned with videogames and collectible toys, and has never had sex with another individual. While he seems okay with his sheltered existence, Andy's fellow co-workers and friends, David, Cal and Jay (Paul Rudd, Romany Malco and Seth Rogen) are not, and try their best to help him lose that pesky sexual albatross once and for all.

The 40 Year Old Virgin is reminiscent of the raunchy sex comedies that filtered out of Hollywood in the 1980s. Much like those films were, this film is as coarse as they come, which makes it not recommended for the easily offended. At the screening I attended, I counted four or five folks walking out about ten to twenty minutes into the film.

But if you think that this is merely Porky's Reborn, think again. What sets The 40 Year Old Virgin, much like the recent Wedding Crashers, apart from the rest of the pack is that those who worked on the production actually made an effort to raise the material above its vulgar origins. Director Judd Apatow and screenplay co-writer (and star) Carell give us characters that come across more as everyday people than your standard comedy clichés, and put them in situations that, for the most part, are believable. On top, no pun attended, of getting great mileage out of its main concept, Apatow and Carell also make some incisive and uncomfortably truthful (but very funny) observations on the current state of dating.

A great supporting cast also goes a long way in making this film a winner. Rudd, Rogen and Malco are excellent as Andy's "support" group of friends (Malco is the standout of the trio). Catherine Keener is also quite good as Trish, the woman who catches Andy's eye and may turn out to be "The One", while Jane Lynch, Gerry Bednob and Shelley Malil are all great in their brief roles as Andy's fellow employees.

Sometimes, the biggest winners come out of nowhere. In July, the superb documentary March of the Penguins, erm, marched into cinemas to win critics and audiences over, followed by the very funny Wedding Crashers. You can now add The 40 Year Old Virgin to this list of late-summer movie sleepers. This is, without a doubt, the funniest movie I have seen in the past few years.

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