ROTTEN TOMATOES: Tomatometer Report: "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" is the Best Reviewed Film of the Year

Tomatometer Report: "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" is the Best Reviewed Film of the Year

by RT Staff | August 19, 2005

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Two of this week's wide releases, "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" and "Red Eye," would appear to have little in common. One is a comedy that mixes sentimentality with the profane, and the other is a Hitchcockian thriller aboard a plane. Yet both films are among the best reviewed of the year.

"The 40 Year-Old Virgin," starring Steve Carell as a dork with all the wrong moves, is currently the best reviewed wide release of the year, at 90 percent on the Tomatometer. "Red Eye," Wes Craven's thriller starring Rachel McAdams and Cillian Murphy, is also soaring; at 83 percent, it's the fourth-best reviewed film of the year. "Red Eye" is just behind "Cinderella Man," at 84 percent, and "Batman Begins" at 83 percent. Rounding out the top five is "Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith," at 82 pecent.

There have been 82 wide releases in 2005 (we're not including films that start in limited release and slowly move wide, like "Kung Fu Hustle" and "March of the Penguins"). Here's the list of the best reviewed so far:

Best Reviewed Films of the Year with Wide Release Debuts
-------------------------------------------------------------
(Does not include films with platform releases)

1. The 40-Year Old Virgin - 90%, 102 Reviews
2. Cinderella Man - 84%, 171 Reviews
3. Batman Begins - 83%, 217 Reviews
4. Red Eye - 83%, 101 Reviews
5. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith - 82%, 229 Reviews
6. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - 82%, 185 Reviews
7. The Sisterhood of Traveling Pants - 82%, 105 Reviews
8. Hustle & Flow - 81%, 121 Reviews
9. Sin City - 78%, 212 Reviews
10. Crash - 77%, 154 Reviews
11. Pooh's Heffalump Movie - 76%, 68 Reviews
12. Wedding Crashers - 74%, 151 Reviews
13. George A. Romero's Land of the Dead - 73%, 146 Reviews
14. War of the Worlds - 72%, 218 Reviews
15. Hitch - 68%, 168 Reviews
16. Sky High - 67%, 103 Reviews
17. Unleashed - 66%, 109 Reviews
18. Coach Carter - 65%, 122 Reviews
19. Robots - 63%, 164 Reviews
20. Fever Pitch - 63%, 163 Reviews

Related Items

Movie:	Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
	Wedding Crashers
	Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
	Batman Begins
	Hustle & Flow
	Cinderella Man
	The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
	Sky High
	Unleashed
	Crash
	Fever Pitch
	War of the Worlds
	Sin City
	Robots
	Pooh's Heffalump Movie
	Hitch
	The 40-Year-Old Virgin
	Coach Carter
	George A. Romero's Land of the Dead
Celeb:	Rachel McAdams
	Wes Craven
	Cillian Murphy

(1-20 of 21 posts) | Reply

Macedonian writes:
on Aug 19 2005 10:45 PM

I want to see The 40 Year Old Virgin, i love rated r comedies, first we got wedding crashers which was excellent, now weve got this, hope the streak continues

(Reply to this)

Biggestgeekever writes:
on Aug 19 2005 10:58 PM

Shouldn't March of the Penguins be the best reviewed wide release film of the year? It's in over 2,000 theaters now.

(Reply to this)

Senh Duong writes:
on Aug 19 2005 11:52 PM

In reply to this comment (#825322)
For this chart, we're excluding platform releases, meaning films that started out as limited releases, but slowly move wide.

(Reply to this)

lovelykeira writes:
on Aug 20 2005 11:30 AM

It surprises me that The 40-Year Old Virgin is the best reviewed movie of the year so far. Seems like critics usualy arn't big on comedys. I definitely want to see it.

(Reply to this)

pota1967 writes:
on Aug 20 2005 02:02 PM

If you are 40 years old and still a virgin--You are a homosexual, Yes YOU!. No one is that shy

(Reply to this)

Flim Springfield writes:
on Aug 20 2005 10:38 PM

Best comedy of the year. Loved it.

(Reply to this)

CrazyGhost78 writes:
on Aug 21 2005 08:47 AM

I wanna see 40 year old virgin and red eye so bad, BUT I'M SO DAMN POOR!

(Reply to this)

Reel 2/Dialogue 2 writes:
on Aug 21 2005 09:57 AM

In reply to this comment (#825323)
[b]Penguins is prac-tic-ally chickens...[/b]
But why? What have popular indies done to youse guys? :)

Plus, percentage wise in conjunction with the number of critic responses, [i]Sith[/i] is the best reviewed movie of the year. To have that many give it that high a rating is an inescapable feat.

(Reply to this)

MontyCircus writes:
on Aug 21 2005 03:29 PM

In reply to this comment (#825328)
[b]No, Sith isn't #1[/b]
If you go by the Bayesian formula they used in the 2004 Tomato Awards, then 40 Year Old Virgin still scores better than Revenge of the Sith...

And depending on the average Tomatometer for all movies (if it's 60%'ish and not 50%'ish), then 40 Year Old Virgin is still the best reviewed wide-release movie of the year!

And not just March of the Penguins, but Murderball & Broken Flowers would also top any of the wide-releases...

And Kung Fu Hustle's 89%, 159 reviews, and 2,503 theatres...should make it the best reviewed wide-release of the year...shouldn't it???

(Reply to this)

amberlita21 writes:
on Aug 21 2005 09:20 PM

It's sad that a film at 87% on the Tomatometer is the best reviewed of the year. We're in August for crying out loud!

What a suck all year for film thus far. Only a handful have been truly terrific and even they aren't cracking the 90% mark.

(Reply to this)

blur_republic writes:
on Aug 21 2005 09:28 PM

[b]Virgin Soars[/b]
I never thought I'd live to see this day.

A seemingly 'dumb' farcical movie about getting laid, crammed with seemingly 'tasteless' jokes about bodily fluids, and laden with enough 'puerile' humor to make one's IQ seem to melt away -- is one of the best reviewed films of the year!

I think it's a good sign. Hollywood is finally learning how to make a 'smart' dumb movie, one that actually connects at an emotional level.

I can't wait to watch it!

(Reply to this)

Flim Springfield writes:
on Aug 21 2005 09:43 PM

I wouldn't really call the movie "smart" OR "dumb", I think what makes it good is the characters are very real. Sure, there's some pratfalls and a couple sight gags, but I think a lot of us will recognize ourselves and/or our friends in many of the characters. Much of the humour is very true-to-life- gay jokes, racial jokes, not meant as mean, but as dumb things people really say to eachother. Insulting eachother is the sign of a true friendship, and there's plenty of insults in the movie. :)

(Reply to this)

Senh Duong writes:
on Aug 22 2005 02:02 AM

In reply to this comment (#825328)
Hehe...We're saving the penquins for the indies chart.

(Reply to this)

insanemansam5 writes:
on Aug 22 2005 09:12 AM

I hate that the films that get the best percentages on RT aren't necessarily the best films but the films that have the least you can say against them. If you don't believe me consider this Toy Story 2(nothing against TY2 it's a great animated flick) is the best reviewed film ever on RT and Catch Me if you Can has a slightly better percentage than Return of The King though I would consider ROTK better reviewed because it has almost a point higher average

(Reply to this)

lavatory love machine writes:
on Aug 22 2005 03:19 PM

the higher score on the tomatometter doesn't make it the best "rewiew" film of the year

most of the reviews of that movie said it is fun but not GREAT

in my opinion batman begins and charlie and the chocolate factory both has better reviews, a lot of critics called them great

a couple of years aga one of the movies with higher score on the tomatometter of the year was catch me if you can, i think it came in second place, but not one of those reviews called that movie one of the best of the year

(Reply to this)

Senh Duong writes:
on Aug 22 2005 05:02 PM

In reply to this comment (#825335)
Right, Batman Begins has a better average rating. I guess when we do the next Golden Tomato Awards, we'll combine the two - Tomatometer and Average Rating. Nonetheless, it is still very impressive. Can't say I was expecting "40 Year Old Virgin" to be this well reviewed.

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Reel 2/Dialogue 2 writes:
on Aug 23 2005 12:29 PM

In reply to this comment (#825329)
[b]Who is Bayesian and does he eat pain-goo-wens?[/b]
I'm basing my findings on the tomato percentage/critic tally, though perhaps a more accurate assessment would be to use the average star rating found on each movie page, in which case [i]Batman[/i] probably edges [i]Sith. Kung Fu Hustle[/i] and [i]Virgin[/i] have too few critics championing them to match that equation. The number of theaters shouldn't matter... except to Senh. :)

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TheAnswerMVP2001 writes:
on Aug 24 2005 05:46 PM

it's not at 90 anymore now it's at 86

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Kudos Mooney writes:
on Aug 24 2005 07:06 PM

look. the movie was flat-out funny. reviews or not. i have not laughed that hard in a long time, and since my fiancee of two years had just broken up with me, it really really really helped. so to me, yes, this is the best movie of the year. well, tied with batman begins and war of the worlds. war of the worlds you say? yes. despite its obvious shortcomings, it was a great spielberg film, and it was nice to feel something ominous on the horizon. if only cruise's son would have died, then it would have made a much better movie. that little prick.

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Mass Movie Psycho writes:
on Aug 24 2005 07:14 PM

[b]red eye[/b]
red eye was wicked good!! so glad to see it up there! i'm so shocked critics liked it cause it seemed like the type of film critics would LOVE TO HATE. it's not a great film by any means, but it's a fun, campy, good time.

(Reply to this)