American Sigh! (40 Days and 40 Nights (DVD))

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Product:	40 Days and 40 Nights (DVD)
Date:	05/06/02 (13 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: The next film you see has to be better than this!

Disadvantages: Where Do I begin?

This new comedy has been marketed as the ultimate film to lure people away from the comforts of their front rooms. With the Queen hob nobbing with pop stars and football fever gripping the UK- you may feel like something watching something completely different at the flicks and get outta the house. With the banner "from the producers of Bridget Jones Diary" running along the top of the poster you may be expecting a top notch sex comedy. So does 40 Days and 40 Nights have the X Factor to drag you away from your front room? Or will it have you running back to your telly and your pringles?


Well, here's some background info on the film before I reveal all!


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40 Days And 40 Nights
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Cert: 15

Director: Michael Lehmann

Disributor: UIP

Running Time: 1 hr 36 mins

Stars:

Josh Hartnett, Shannyn Sossamon, Viness Shaw, Paul Costanzo, Griffin Dunne.


Josh Hartnett plays Matt, a web designer with a cool outlook on life about everything except women. After being dumped for someone richer he decides to sleep become a serial shagger and sleep with anyone that lets him. But he starts to feel guilty and wants more from life than his new found sexual freedom. He has dreams that the ceiling caves in on him during his many one night stands. He consults friends, family and even the local priest (his brother)about this new found guilt desperate for an answer.


So the dilemma for Matt is to either ignore his state of mind or to find something else to occupy his mind other than sex. He feels betrayed by his lust for life and decides to give up sex for lent. So far... so contrived. But what the film does now is spin in a completely different direction. The first part of the film concentrates on the sex comedy element. Now comes the romance. As luck would have it- whilst Matt is abstaining from all things carnal he meets th
e woman of his dreams in a laundrette! (thank god he doesn't live in Albert Square, Walford!). What a disaster! Does he tell her? Or does he keep on dating without sex?


Here's where a 'hilarious' sub plot comes in. Get ready to laugh like you have never laughed before. Ready? Matt's mates at work are running a secret sweepstake to see how long he can last without jumping into bed with his laundrette lover! (Oh you guys!). So will Matt give in and use more than Bounce in his wash? Or will he leave his stain devils in the drawer and stick to clean living? Well, the film's publicity machine will make you think that it actually matters what the outcome is. But the truth is that watching a guy moaning about his high sex drive and the fact that women fancy him is about as believable as Tony Blair admitting a mistake live on telly! The film struggles to decide if it is an out and out sex comedy (playing the usual lipstick lesbian card when all else fails) or a romantic comedy (with all the usual will they/won't they plot developments)with brains instead of a crotch. For example Matt is supposed to want to fall in love not into bed yet we are led to believe that daft jokes about Viagra are exactly that. Yet these scenes are much more believable than the unintentionally hilarious tender scenes. There is one scene with a flower and nude scenes which made me laugh so much I nearly choked on my popcorn! But it wasn't supposed to be funny. OOPS!

Forty Days And Forty Nights feels like it is going on for that long! Unlike American Pie it seems ashamed to admit what it is. A P had its fair share of bad taste humour but by the end of the film you felt that the characters had developed. Some of them even regretted trying to shag anything that moved. But in this ill conceived comedy- nobody seems to have any life beyond the central concept. You find yourself wondering why the non religious Matt would choose to give up anything fo
r lent. Some of the Benny Hill representations of women seem at odds with Matt's dilemma of getting to know women before jumping into bed with them.


Josh Hartnett gives a whole new meaning to the concept 'cardboard cut-out.' He wanders in and out of the frame looking ill at ease with the material. He fails to convince the audience that he can handle the bad taste humour or the romantic elements. Pearl Harbor showed us his two expressions- stony faced and constipated. This time he only pulls one face- one of confusion (what am I doing here? Perhaps?).


If this film was daring, telling you something new, different, inventive or even funny - then I would say go see it. But the bottom line is watching Forty Days and Forty Nights is like watching a smug person sit next to you in school grinning like a Cheshire cat for no reason whatsoever. You will find yourself wanting to wipe the smirk from the film's face by heading straight for the foyer demanding a refund! Just don't tell em I sent ya!

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