Have you ever wondered what it would feel like to be middle-aged and still a virgin? According to this movie, it may not be so bad – unless of course, other people know about it.

Andy (Steve Carell), aka “the forty year old virgin,” is one such character. He is the definition of the word geek: he rides a bicycle instead of a car (with a helmet and his right pant leg tucked neatly into his sock), has an apartment filled with plastic action figures (in their sealed boxes) and considers spending an evening satisfying his urge for an egg salad sandwich to be exciting. All of this seems just fine and dandy to him, until Andy’s three co-workers discover his secret. They decide to help Andy lose his virginity as soon – as possible, with little regard for ethics.

It first seems the film is trying to convey Andy’s nerdiness as merely a symptom of his stale virginity, and with the addition of sex to his life, he can grow up and really start having fun. Andy’s coworkers – miserable in their own relationships but overconfident in their romantic mentoring abilities-embrace this notion completely.

What is interesting about the avenue the plot takes after this is the large amount of time spent making Andy’s experienced co-workers Jay (Romany Malco), David (Paul Rudd) and Cal (Seth Rogen) out to be more misguided about women than Andy. David is obsessed with an ex-girlfriend who moved on years ago, Cal thinks of females more like conquests than people and Jay can’t stay monogamous with his girlfriend. Andy’s virginity seems to be the combination of a history of worst-case scenarios and an overly timid personality, while his co-workers – albeit much more experienced – don’t seem to be any more mature. Andy eventually takes matters into his own hands and decides to pursue an emotional relationship rather than a sexual one, and in many ways his innocent intentions give him an advantage.

Although the dialogue is shamelessly raunchy and the over-the-top physical comedy is enough to keep audiences entertained, the movie takes the time to go beyond that. In fact, it seems to go further than it should in exploring the relationships of the supporting characters (who are boring in comparison to Carell’s scene-stealing presence). It does successfully frame a more interesting question in our heads than, “is this dude ever gonna get laid?” Instead, we are left contemplating the value of virginity in our modern day world; a much needed romanticizing for a seemingly abandoned ideal.

Although the ending to this film feels like a punch line to a really big dirty joke, this movie manages to get us thinking, which lifts from the the generic romantic comedy realm and takes it to a slightly more meaningful level.