Sunday, March 2, 2003		Lead Article

Hollywood hues
A film that runs out of ideas
Ervell Menezes

A catchline calls 40 Days and 40 Nights America’s "first sex comedy without sex", but that isn’t exactly accurate because talking about not having sex itself brings out so much sexiness. It deals with the austere Christian season of Lent when they abstain from eating meat or even drinking liquor. So the Americans have thought of abstaining from sex.

"Nobody’s ever really had a chance to have fun with the idea of what happens when you give it (sex) up," says director Michael Lehman. So when Matt Sullivan (Josh Hartnett) decides to abstain from sex right through Lent it is a novel subject but it doesn’t take long for the novelty to wear off and then the film runs out of ideas and becomes crude and even gross.

But Matt’s abstinence is a reaction to not being able to perform. "It’s nothing but a vast emptiness, a black hole," is Matt’s way of describing his inability but unknowingly he becomes the butt of ridicule of his companions, especially his room — mate Ryan (Paulo Costanzo), who takes the lead in this ragging game. Nicole (Vinessa Shaw) is the girl he was involved with before taking this now of abstinence while Erica (Shannyn Sossamon), the one he meets in the laundry is the one to suffer most because of the vow. Meanwhile Ryan is busy taking bets as to whether Matt will go through Lent without sex. There’s a good line when one of the girls in the office says (about men)," for them 40 minutes (without sex) is an eternity". But there aren’t many such lines. Robert Perez’s screenplay deteriorates well before the halfway mark and director Michael Lehman of The Truth About Cats & Dogs fame struggles with the film as it gets bawdy and even vulgar with typical American crudity. Josh Hartnett, such a hit in Pearl Harbor, is ill at ease in the lead role and Shannyn Sossamon not much better. Paul Costazo’s is cute cameo but Griffen Dunne’s sexy boss is pathetic. I’m sure the French would have dealt with the subject with much more subtlety and class. Comedy by innuendo is so much better. May be abstinence from the film itself would be the right thing to do. You won’t miss much.