If the characters presented in "40 Days and 40 Nights" are typical of American youngsters, we're in trouble. However, I didn't identify or care about any of the people in this silly, vulgar movie. I am very liberal and love movies of all kinds. I do not mind sexual content. But "40 Days and 40 Nights" revolves around stupid, self-absorbed, I-need-instant-gratification people that I doubt anybody really knows. If they DO know people such as the ones presented in this movie, the world is in trouble. The plot: Josh Hartnett (a good actor; see "Black Hawk Down" and "O") is a stud who beds different women constantly. When the one true love of his life leaves him, he decides to go without sex. His brother is a Priest-in-training, and Matthew (Hartnett) vows to him in confession that he can go 40 days and 40 nights without sex...including masturbation and anything that reminds him of sex. (We get "hilarious" scnes of Matthew getting rid of anything sexual...he grabs a trash bag and tosses away all of his room mate's porn magazines, as well as a large bottle of Wesson oil.) Everyone at his job bets that he can't go that long without any sexual gratification, and such scenes follow as Matthew going into an important board meeting with a huge boner sticking out of his pants; Matthew not being able to climax with a one-night stand, so he runs into the living room and fills a condom with Liquid Paper to prove to the girl that he did ejaculate; Matthew having a fantasy that he is in the "land of breasts," where he flies around bouncing off of perky bossoms; and Matthew's decision to finally have sex with his new girlfriend because he catches his near-priest brother getting it on with a nun. "40 Days and 40 Nights" sends the message that EVERYBODY is TOTALLY obsessed with sex, and that nobody, especially young guys, can go ONE DAY without it. The film presents an America in which self-control and morals are a thing of the past, and ultimately, "40 Days and 40 Nights" shows us what young people want in this day and age: "I WANT IT NOW! I WILL NOT WAIT! GIVE IT TO ME NOW! I HAVE NO PATIENCE! I SHOULDN'T HAVE TO WAIT FOR ANYTHING! CAVE IN TO MY DESIRES....NOW! I CAN'T WAIT!"
Review of 40 Days and 40 Nights
