Review of 40 Days and 40 Nights

"40 Days and 40 Nights" has a simple premise - Matt (Played by Josh Hartnett) is a young man in the prime of life, who has sex with various women in an attempt to fulfil an empty life after being badly hurt by his ex-girlfriend and love of his life, Nicole. In an attempt to find new purpose to his life, he tries to go 40 Days without having any kind of sex. Things get complicated, however, when he falls in love with Erica (Played by Shannyn Sossamon). The film's based around this and of course, this basic plot is where most of the comedy comes from. The plot may sound interesting but it's not presented in an interesting way and you soon lose interest in Hartnett and his character's challenge. Sossamon does provide some kind of reprieve for the film, though. Her performance as Erica is very well done - her character, and indeed her, are likable and interesting. In fact - it's fair to say the film is partly let down by Hartnett's performance - his character becomes 2 dimensional, although some of his comedy acting shows promise, Hartnett is certainly nothing to get excited about in this film.

The dialogue between the characters is usually very seedy and their outlook on sex is, like Hartnett's performance, one-dimensional. The plot chugs along at an infuriating slow rate and it's hindered by often pointless detours that were probably designed to build character but fail to do so, leaving you totally indifferent to any character and what happens to them. The ending is very shaky and leaves the film with an unresolved feeling in many ways. Sure, the film does have it's moments of comedy that are amusing, at least, but it's not enough to stop this film becoming what it is - totally unremarkable.