40 Days and 40 Nights

Rating:
Summary: Pretty good a few times...
Review: The beginning part, where he doesnt want to have sex with the girl is probably the best, This is a pretty good movie, where a guy(Josh Hartnett), has to go 40 days & 40 nights with out having sex so he can get lent, & they put it on the internet, & make bets on how long he can go, and he makes it to day 39... & his girlfriend cuffs him & forces him to have sex with her, Pretty good to watch a few times.

Rating:
Summary: I liked it!
Review: Well, first of all, this is romantic comedy. So, if you like, for example, The Girl Next Door, Just Married or How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days, there is a big chance, that you'll like this one too. At least I did.
So, the story is about a man named Matt (Josh Hartnett), who decides to stay celibate for 40 days of Lent after a brutal breakup (he was know as a kind of 'ladies man' before). But then, he meets a girl of his dream, Erica (Shannyn Sossamon), and can't do nothing about it. Besides that, his co-workers make a bet, when he'll brake. So, he must stay celibate for 40 days, with a lot of pressure from his co-workers, but he must also prove his love for Erica. So the happy ending follows.
Although I don't really like Josh, he wasn't even anything special in this movie, But I really liked Shannyn. Her performance was just great.
So, 40 Days & 40 Nights, is a good movie overall.

Rating:
Summary: Funny and contrived comedy for anyone with offbeat humour
Review: Yes, this film is very contrived, somewhat offensive/vulgar, and pretty formulaic in the "romantic comedy" genre...but for me, despite those flaws, what makes this film better than I expected are the great scenes of San Francisco and the unique beauty of Shannyn Sossamon. I absolutely love her in this film...her look, her performance, her character...she is definitely my ideal woman (if there are any real women out there who resemble her). I always thought it would be a cool thing to meet the love of your life in a laundromat, and this film has that scene in there. Another thing I think is cool is riding the city bus all over the city as you observe the people on the bus, the route it takes, and the fresh perspective you get seeing a part of the city you might otherwise not see. That was in there too. San Francisco was the perfect city to set this film in and is very much a star of this film in its own right.

I like the offbeat side characters, like the bicycle courier, who is typical of the ones I've met. He was funny in nearly all of his scenes, so that added a lot to making this film better than its premise. Now, about that premise...it just seems a bit overdone that Matt (Josh Hartnett) would go nearly crazy abstaining from sex for a mere 40 days. I was in basic training for 9 weeks with 70 other guys in the company and no one went crazy from the lack of sexual opportunity. Let's face it, Matt is probably a sex addict who should've checked into Betty Ford Clinic for 40 days. Alas, he didn't, so we have the comedic antics as he attempts to keep his vow despite temptation rearing its ugly head in many different ways, from women on the street to advertisements to his co-workers' pranks as the office pool moneypot grows with bets taken on when he will break his vow. I found it amusing that his female co-workers confronted Matt about taking the one power women have over men away from them by his vow of abstinence. Its funny that so many people in the film seemed to take his vow personally, as if he made it for them instead of for himself.

This film probably has the most unique love scene I've ever seen in a film, as Matt manages to keep his abstinence vow while bringing extreme sensual pleasure to Erica (Shannyn Sossamon) with the use of flower petals (I'm not kidding--it has to be seen to be believed, but even then people might want to try that trick at home to see how genuine that could actually be). Unfortunately, like all romantic comedies, there has to be an exposure of the truth that causes one of them to flee the relationship and the inevitable groveling to win back one's true love. Somehow, it didn't ring true for me in this film. Like I said, this film is poorly contrived and is only saved because of some of its humourous scenes, the great scenes of San Francisco sites, and mostly because of the presence of Shannyn Sossamon who is an actress I hope to see in more movies, of higher quality. She has a very unique look and style that I find lacking in many other actresses of our generation. She had a small role in "A Knight's Tale", so this film she has more screen time, next will be to find a better film/script for her acting talent and presence.

Rating:
Summary: Do NOT ignore the professional critic
Review: This movie is without any redemption, and that includes the
soundtrack. Now and then an absolutely insipid movie, such
as this one, has a few good songs in it - but the music used
here is as noisome as everything else.

Perhaps there are men and women somewhere who slather
to have sex day and evening, and for whom brief periods
of celibacy might be arduous, but can this be enough of
a challenge to be worth an actor's time - a producer's
investment - or an audience's interest? If your threshold for
entertainment is somewhere under a dachshund's dewclaw,
you may enjoy this.

See Josh in " The Virgin Suicides " instead.

Rating:
Summary: DONT RENT. DONT BUY. JUST BURN
Review: Save yourself the 90-120 minutes and do something else with your life. Read a book, write a poem... or realize there is nothing funny about being raped. Just do not under any circumstances watch this film. It is a waste of perfectly good light and I believe it should never be encouraged.

Remember that they will stop making bad movies if we dont watch them.

Rating:
Summary: Not the best, but better then I expected
Review: Ok, I know that this movie will not go down as the best movie of anything, but we all know that. The reason why I love this film is because of the relationship between Josh And Shannyn. I like the story revalving around him finding a real women, letting go of his ex, and his struggle for redemption from pimping women. I think Josh did a great job showing how hard this vow of his was hitting him. You see when he's with Erica, hes really happy and isent in turmoil, but without her, you see him falling more and more. Not the best comedy, but pretty fair romantic story that makes up for it.

Rating:
Summary: Too many jokes at the expense of the romance in this one
Review: If irony is indeed the master trope of the universe, as I have been claiming for several decades, then you know that as soon as Matt Sullivan (Josh Hartnett) makes a vow to stay celibate for the "40 Days and 40 Nights" of Lent, that he is going to meet the love of his life. That would be Erica Sutton (Shannyn Sossamon), who fate throws him together with at the local laundry mat. Matt knows that he is being tested. The problem is that pretty much everyone he knows is in on the cosmic joke.

Matt takes his vow because his breakup with Nicole (Vinessa Shaw) has left him a wreck. He keeps bailing out on successful dates and is becoming obsessed with ceilings. He goes for comfort and advice from his brother who is studying to be a priest and practicing hearing confessions. When he sees the banners for Lent going up he takes it as a sign and swears off sex, including foreplay and self-gratification. Unfortunately, once his roommate Ryan (Paulo Costanzo) finds out the deals this becomes the prefect opportunity to use the internet to get a pool going on how long Matt can, uh, last.

Now, for the sake of argument we will assume that Matt has no discernable brain activity when he is asleep (despite scenes to the contrary), so that we can have the willing suspension of disbelief to go with the film's running gag that has the hero falling part as he goes longer and longer without relief. In the real world this guy would be able to keep his vow and wake up without any major problems. But writer Rob Perez and director Michael Lehmann ("The Truth About Cats & Dogs") want to milk this guy's discomfort for everything it is worth and, unfortunately, more.

It dawned on me that this movie has is clearly bifurcated into the "guy" parts and the "girl" parts and the biggest problem with "40 Days and 40 Nights" is that the two halves do not fit together (as compared to "50 First Dates," which overcomes a similar problem and combines comedy and sweetness). Matt's friends and co-workers treat his vow as a joke and/or money making opportunity. This allows for lots of jokes and some prosthetic humor that leads to the inevitable conclusion that all men are pigs.

Where this film had potential was with the idea that Matt would have to date a woman without having sex, both before and after she finds out about THE VOW. However, I find it hard to believe that finding out about such a thing would really be upsetting to a woman, especially if the guy knows how to handle a flower (and Matt really knows how to handle a flower; this film must have given lots of couples ideas for similar epsiodes of flower fun). But if you stop and think about it the idea that a couple could have a good time on a date with sex or any form of physical contact has to be against just about everything Hollywood stands for (assuming, of course, they are in an upright position).

I was planning on liking this 2002 comedy more, but then somebody bad does something really bad without consequences. No comeuppance. No joke at their expense. No sense of outraged expressed by another character. Nothing. I was so ticked off by that turn of events that when the film cobbled together the requisite happy ending I was not really in the mood to enjoy it. But the filmmakers do get props for coming up with a nice little gift as Matt's final act of contrition.

Final Note: "40 Days and 40 Nights" was certified for 11 year old in Sweden, 12 years old in the Netherlands and Portugal, 13 year olds in Spain, 14 years olds in Brazil and the cantons of Vaud and Geneva in Switzerland, 15 year olds in the United Kingdom, Finland and Norway, 16 year olds in Argentina and in the Swiss canon of Grisons. I have no idea what to make of these numbers but they sure are interesting and make me wonder what is up with those Swiss kids in Grisons (was it the sex or the vow part they are worried about?).

Rating:
Summary: This movie is terrible.
Review: Unless you're 15 years old, you'll think this movie is terrible. It is. Totally.
You might ask yourself "why is Beth going to go ahead and give it 2 stars if its so terrible?" I'll tell you why. Shannon Whatsername is hot, and almost makes watching this movie bearable. Watch ten minutes, pleasure yourself, and then return to your day.