Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Forty-year-old Andy Stitzer (Steve Carell) works at a big-box electronics retailer, lives in a nice apartment with an extensive action-figure collection, and rides his bike to work every day. No wonder he's a virgin. His friends take his virginity personally and vow to do whatever it takes to get him laid.

I realize I'm in the minority when it comes to Judd Apatow's movies—I don't like them. Their pervasive sexual humor is anything but funny coming from sophomoric men in their 20s and 30s, and far too much attention is paid to Andy's coworkers instead of his relationship with Trish (Catherine Keener), which is actually kind of touching. But by the time her character is introduced, I was so fed up I didn't care anymore.

When I saw this movie on HD DVD, I wasn't too impressed with the picture quality because of the abundant edge enhancement in the VC-1 encode. Unfortunately, the AVC encode on Blu-ray exhibits the same issue, which leads me to believe it's in the video master. Colors are richly saturated with excellent black levels and decent detail, but flesh tones lack any texture, pointing to some unnecessary noise reduction during the mastering process.

The DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack provides clear and concise dialog firmly rooted in the center speaker. The sound design is extremely passive and doesn't add much to the storytelling with the front-loaded mix. The bar sequences sound listless, especially in the surround speakers, and the dynamics are tepid with very little bass response.

A bevy of bonus features grace the BD50 disc, including an audio commentary with Judd Apatow, Steve Carell, and other cast members, 30 minutes of deleted scenes, a BonusView PIP U-Control feature, and a slew of other features too numerous to list. Regrettably, the supplements are all in standard definition.

They say that art is different things to different people. The 40-Year-Old Virgin is not my idea of art, but I'm sure I'm in the minority considering the popularity of the film. Regardless, the Blu-ray presentation is inhibited by a less-than-stellar video encode and an uninspiring soundtrack.

Release Date: September 30, 2008

Movie: 5 out of 10
Picture: 5 out of 10
Sound: 6 out of 10

Review System

Source
Pioneer Elite BDP-05FD

Display
JVC DLA-RS1 projector
Stewart FireHawk screen (76.5" wide, 16:9)

Electronics
Onkyo PR-SC885 pre/pro
Anthem PVA-7 Amplifier
Belkin PF60 power conditioner

Speakers
M&K S-150s (L, C, R)
M&K SS-150s (LS, RS, SBL, SBR)
SVS PC-Ultra subwoofer

Cables
Monoprice HDMI cables (source to pre/pro)
Best Deal analog-audio cables
PureLink HDC Fiber Optic HDMI Cable System (15 meters) from pre/pro to projector