Save the Cat Goes to the Movies (30 page)

All Is Lost:
After Reese shines in court, the lecherous Victor calls her into his office and makes a pass. Devastated, Reese leaves as Selma accuses her of sleeping with the professor to get ahead. Reese realizes she will never be appreciated for her brain.

Dark Night of the Soul:
Reese tells Luke goodbye, and packs.

Break into Three:
Two A and B stories cross in fast order. First, Reese stops by Jennifer’s beauty shop and is encouraged by Professor Stromwell, who tells her not to quit. Second, Luke and Selma (who’s given up her Insider’s distrust and become an ally) now confront Brooke, tell her the smarmy Victor hit on Reese, and convince her to fire him - and hire the Blonde!

Finale:
All arrive for the final courtroom scene, including Reese’s Delta Nu girlfriends and Jennifer with her UPS beau.
Reese enters wearing pink, a perfect example of Synthesis. And just as in the early scene when she bests the clerk by knowing the merchandise, Reese tricks the victim’s daughter into confessing by understanding the rules of perms — and wins the case! Then true victory comes as her ex proposes and she turns
him
down.

Final Image:
Big change from the opening image with caps in the air as Reese graduates Harvard Law — first in her class!

The risk of this movie is inherent in its title, for as clever as it is (it’s also the pitch!), there is a sense going in that it might get, shall we say … sophomoric. And, yes, while this Judd Apatow-directed “farce of nature” does not disappoint in that regard, what we actually get is a sweet, sensitive, and in an odd way, inspiring comedy — and the very best of the “Sex Fool” sub-genre, those stories where the hero is confused for a lothario, but is quite the opposite.

Much of the successful finessing of this dilemma is due to the screenplay stylings of Apatow. In both
The Cable Guy
and
Knocked Up
, his approach is very Farrelly Brothers: Start with a broad concept and get more meaningful as the film progresses. It helps to have Steve Carrell (whose shy persona makes this silly premise believable) as co-writer and star.

Steve plays a lowly shipping clerk at a Circuit City-type store. His adventure begins when he admits that, though he is 40, he has never “done the deed.” Into the breach rush his know-nothing co-workers, each considering himself an expert on sex. But it’s not until Steve shows them how to do it that they all start to grow. And the fool has never been more triumphant than in the movie’s final musical number, in which, to the anthem from
Hair
, the 40 Year-Old Von-Virgin celebrates the glory of patience.

FT Type: Sex Fool

FT Cousins:
I Love You, Alice B. Toklas; The Party; Play It Again, Sam; Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice; The World’s Greatest Lover; Loverboy; Roxanne; Down with Love, Bridget Jones’s Diary; The Guru

THE 40-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN

Written by
Judd Apatow & Steve Carell

Opening Image:
Meet Andy Stitzer (Steve Carell) asleep in bed, looking kinda sad, and when he wakes, we know why: His morning erection reveals he’s a little “backed up.” Like a real-life Pee-wee Herman, boyish Steve makes breakfast and gets ready for his day, donning a helmet and riding his bike to work, but not before waving at the nice couple upstairs.

Theme Stated:
The neighbor waves back and says: “That guy has got to get laid.” It’s the theme … but is it true? Do you have to have sex to have a fulfilling life?

Set-Up:
Steve works in the stock room of Smart Tech. Sharing about his weekend, a co-worker, the bearish Cal
(Knocked Up
’s Seth Rogen), tells a graphic sex story while Steve can only talk about making an egg salad sandwich. We meet the others: David (Paul Rudd), who misses his angry ex-girlfriend, and shaved-headed Jay (Romany Malco), the player. The guys invite Steve to their poker game, assuming him a rube. Steve surprises them by winning. This won’t be the last time Steve trumps his pals; it’s a prelude to other lessons the “fool” will be dispensing. After the game has ended, the guys begin to tell sex stories. Steve is shy about his experiences …

Catalyst:
… and at Minute 13, it slips out: Steve’s a virgin!

Debate:
What should Steve do now? Embarrassed — and a little scared that the guys know — Steve considers quitting his job. In reviewing his life, we learn why Steve never had sex — although he came close. Like a 40-year-old boy, Steve collects comic-book action figures, paints soldiers, and plays video games. That life is now in jeopardy as Paul and the others begin to convince him to try again.
Steve can’t escape a society consumed by sex — even ads for a sexy perfume called “Eruption” seem to be following him everywhere.

Break into Two
: At Minute 22, Steve agrees to go out with the guys and enter the world of “men” — or at least the world these fellow boys he works with consider manly. The range of advice on how to “become a man” is hilarious. First idea: Find a drunk girl. At a club, Steve does just that and is sent home with her by the other guys, but his wild ride with
this
drunk girl mostly involves getting thrown up on. Steve has tried, but he is still a virgin.

B Story:
At Minute 33, Steve meets Trish (Catherine Keener) — not only more age-appropriate, but actually attracted to him. Catherine works nearby, yet even when she gives him her number, Steve’s too shy to call. Catherine will be his agent of change.

Fun and Games:
Almost from the get-go, we realize Catherine is “the one” for Steve, but the “promise of the premise” includes showing just how far this fish is out of water. His buddies initiate Steve into their world, and lock him in the store with a porn tape playing in the front window. The guys also take him to get his chest hair waxed in a painful and hilarious scene. (“We gonna need more wax!”) At Minute 46, telling Steve to “Be David Caruso in
Jade,”
Seth takes him to meet Beth, a wild blonde. Beth confuses Steve’s “virgin in the headlights” stare as “cool.” The fool has a fan who’s sure he’s a lothario. Later, Paul drops by Steve’s house with a box of porn, and pulls Steve into speed-dating, where we meet Paul’s angry ex.

Midpoint:
After the guys send Steve to a hooker (who turns out to be a man), the “Fun and Games” are over. Fed up with the guys’ idiotic plans, Steve “raises the stakes” and A and B stories cross as he asks Catherine out. The fool is now teaching the “men.”

Bad Guys Close In:
Steve’s date goes well but the “bad guy” closing in is Steve’s inability to tell Catherine he’s a virgin — and the close calls when he is almost forced to confess. After failing at using condoms, and interrupted by Catherine’s Insider daughter Marla (Kat Dennings), who hates Steve on sight, Steve and Catherine agree to have 20 dates until they are intimate. Another “bad guy” is Steve’s randy boss, Paula (Jane Lynch), who suggests he have sex with her. Despite all this pressure, Steve is rising to prominence at work, going from clerk to salesman to floor manager. He learns to drive a car from Catherine, and starts to sell his action figures on eBay. He also gets close to Kat in a great scene at Planned Parenthood where, as Kat’s surrogate father, he admits he’s a virgin. In a roomful of adults trying to be “hip” with their kids, Steve’s candor is heroic.

All Is Lost:
As Steve matures, he begins to counsel the other guys, including Romany — who now turns to the virgin for advice! But when the 20 dates are up — and Catherine suggests they finally be intimate — Steve freaks, blaming her for forcing him to sell his figurines; he also proudly defends the fact he rides a bike, even though it’s odd for a man his age.

Dark Night of the Soul:
Confused, Steve gets drunk at a party for Romany, whose girlfriend is pregnant. Romany is finally settling down. Steve meets Beth, who takes him back to her house. Beth is a real “freak,” but even drunk, Steve can’t have sex with her. In a sweet and funny scene, the guys rescue Steve — and Seth stays behind. Back home, Steve finds Catherine waiting, but still can’t tell her the truth. A and B stories cross as she storms out.

Break into Three:
A fresh “chase to the airport” as Steve races to catch Catherine via bicycle, leading to an accident when he busts through a billboard for “Eruption.” Catherine comforts Steve, who now tells her the truth: “I’m a virgin.”

Finale:
The wedding of Steve and Catherine and the rush to the hotel. “Three and a half minutes later … “the smile on Steve’s face as he lies in bed after their session of bliss is hilarious.

Final Image:
Singing “Aquarius,” the cast celebrates sex.

The age-old dilemma of “Institutionalized” stories — them or me? — is seen in the brilliant
Office Space,
as desk huggers at Initech (like Stephen Root as Milton) wonder if hanging on to their jobs is worth selling their souls.

You are a caveman. And with your fellow Neanderthals, you are about to join in a great tradition: the Woolly Mammoth hunt! This will involve weeks of tribal ceremonies — including a pre-hunt ritual in which a “virgin” (the girl who won’t sleep with the chief) is sacrificed to the gods, and a stalking technique used for generations that guarantees a third of the hunters will die. To not go along with your fellow meat-eaters is akin to betrayal, yet as you reach for your spear there’s an uneasy feeling in your stomach and a nagging thought:

What about a nice salad?

If any of this strikes a chord at the core of your DNA, you likely identify with stories marked “Institutionalized.” That same feeling in the center of our gut is one we now experience sitting in our cubicles at work, lining up in a row at Army boot camp, or joining a bunch of friends who have a new weight-loss product they’re selling. The difference between a “family” we can count on and a “cult” is not always clear, and the pros and cons of being one of the gang our eternal debate. Though we know the perils of going it alone, that queasy intestinal twinge is often a saving grace; it’s what separates us from the others — and might even save them, too! While this story is a product of the post-Enlightenment age in which being an “individual” is an accepted right, the feeling is one we’ve had for all of time.

One reason I like this story type is that, as a creative person, it is my daily dilemma. We writers are the ones who tell the king he has no clothes, and often the only ones with either so much insight — or nothing to lose — we can dub the group “wrong.” The name I’ve given this genre has added meaning as it touches on a key question we ask when opposing an establishment:

Who’s crazier — them or me?

Wherever a group gathers, a business booms, or a family reunites, you’ll find this conundrum. To join or not join, to stay with the rest or do it our way, this is the Institutionalized story. And it must be important, because there are so many examples!

We see the “Military Institution” in
Gallipoli, Full Metal Jacket, M*A*S*H
, and the best, Jean Renoir’s
The Grand Illusion.
We also have the “Business Institution” tale of which
9 to 5, Office Space
, and Paddy Chayefsky’s
Network
are a part. There is the “Family Institution,” typified by movies like
Goodfellas
and
The Royal Tenenbaums
, and the “Issue Institution,” where an ensemble cast deals with a specific theme
(Crash, Babel, Short Cuts).
And because one’s indoctrination into the “machine” is such a common tale, the “Mentor Institution” story includes
Wall Street, The Devil Wears Prada
, and a John Lithgow TV-movie,
Traveling Man
, a pip about a mentor-mentee battle between two salesmen.