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40 Days And 40 Nights

2002, Movie, R, 94 mins

40 Days And 40 Nights: Review

40 DAYS AND 40 NIGHTS
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Come home Michael Lehmann! All (by which we mean HUDSON HAWK) is forgiven. Given the premise of this comic vehicle for hunk de jour Josh Hartnett — a good-looking twentysomething guy gives up sex (all sex, including the self-oriented kind) for Lent — one could be excused for expecting the standard Hollywood mix of smarm and smut. The reality, however, is refreshingly unpredictable. In fact, this is a smart and witty romantic farce that mixes sweet and sexy with surprising aplomb. Matt Sullivan (Hartnett), a web designer at a San Francisco dot.com, has just been dumped by his beautiful but manipulative girlfriend, Nicole (Vinessa Shaw). The devastated Matt immediately plunges into a series of one-night stands that leave him feeling empty or worse: He even begins hallucinating that his apartment's ceiling is cracking, à la THE LOST WEEKEND's Ray Milland in the grips of delirium tremens. With no one else to talk to, Matt goes to confession, where a sympathetic priest turns out to be his older brother John (Adam Trese), who has some amusing sexual issues of his own. Suddenly inspiration strikes: Matt will give up sex for the titular period and take back his life. When next we see him, he's staying home nights, painting model cars and feeling good about himself. Then he meets the all-but-ideal Erica (Shannyn Sossamon) and wants to date her, self-imposed celibacy notwithstanding. Meanwhile, Matt's roommate (Paulo Costanzo) has told Matt's co-workers about the vow, and they've set up an online betting pool whose pot eventually rises to over $20,000 (no word on whether the Almighty anted up). Will Matt make it to the end of Lent without succumbing to the pleasures of the flesh, and will he get the girl? The latter is never really in doubt, but without giving too much away, let's just say that the former is resolved with a genuinely surprising and funny twist. Lehmann gets uniformly terrific performances from a huge supporting cast, including Griffin Dunne as Matt's sexually frustrated boss, and Barry Newman and Mary Gross as his unexpectedly libidinous parents. Even better, the big Matt/Erica love scene, in which Matt caresses her with flowers (to the point of orgasm) without ever actually touching her himself, manages the astonishing feat of being both fiercely erotic and genuinely touching and tender. leave a comment --Steve Simels
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