Movie Review: 18 YEAR OLD VIRGIN

18 YEAR OLD VIRGIN

2009
Unrated


You can watch the trailer here

Sometimes too much raunchiness is just too much. It's not that 18 Year Old Virgin was the worst movie that I've ever seen. It's just that this typical raunch-com couldn't find a way to make me laugh.

The film, which was directed by Tamara Olson, opens on Katie Powers (Olivia Alaina May), runner up to valedictorian, on the morning of her last day of high school. Convinced by her best friend Rose (Lauren Walsh) to attend a year-end party, Katie goes with the thought that she can win the love of her life, Ryan Lambert (Dustin Harnish). When he tells her that he won't sleep with a virgin, Katie spends the rest of the night on a quest to give it up, much to the chagrine of her secret admirer Spencer (Todd Leigh).

Story-wise, we've basically got a standard (read: predictable) romantic comedy on our hands. We can see from the opening sequence that Katie and Spencer are going to end up together at the end of the movie. I'm sorry if that "spoils" the movie for you, but if you can't figure that out after the first five minutes, you have no idea how romantic comedies work. All of the in-between just works towards that inevitable end, with some situations pushing Katie and Spencer farther apart, while others bring them even closer. In other rom-coms, we actually may get a bit of a story arc, and there may be legitimate conflict in that in-between stage; in 18 Year Old Virgin, however, all of our in-between involves Katie's failed sexual exploits, and it gets old pretty quick.

The acting isn't the worst I've ever seen, but it definitely leaves something to be desired. Aside from our lead, every other character either appears as a high school cliché or as an entirely unbelievable character inserted into the film for purely comedic effect. To be fair, it's not as though there's much characterization needed for a film like this, but I would have liked to have been able to relate to someone at some level.

The only thing this movie really has going for it is its soundtrack. I probably couldn't tell you what any of the songs were, but I found myself enjoying the background melodies more than the actual film itself. I'm not sure whether that's good or bad for the film.

All in all, you can't really judge 18 Year Old Virgin too harshly. It was a straight-to-DVD film that I found on Instant Watch in NetFlix after having it be suggested by my friend Katie. For once, NetFlix's prediction of my rating was right on par: one star out of five.

Movie Review Summary:
Grade: F
Current All-Time Rank: Worst - #95
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