Reel critics

You have to admire the writers on this one. To take a premise like

going without sex for 40 days and making it into a full length feature

film is admiral. Unfortunately they left out any character development or

humor. When you can’t remember the names of anyone in the movie within a

24 hour period it’s clear something was missing.

Josh Hartnett of “Pearl Harbor” fame plays Matt, a sex-crazed guy

having emotional problems after a breakup with his beautiful but bitchy

girlfriend Nicole (Vinessa Shaw). Actually I should say “hot” girlfriend

since the word “hot” was used over and over. Matt begins to see cracks in

the ceiling when he’s having sex and thinks he might be going crazy. So

he goes to see his brother, a Catholic priest, for guidance.

Since Catholic Priests are celibate and it’s the beginning of lent (a

40-day period when a person gives up something they enjoy, like candy) he

gets the brilliant idea that giving up sex will clear his head and allow

him to really connect with a woman. So Matt decides to give up sex,

kissing, touching even self-gratification for 40 days. His roommate and

office buddies are so sure he’ll fail they start a pool to see if he

makes the 40 days of abstinence, even a Web site is set up to take the

bets. The rest of the movie is made up of incidents that take place

within those 40 days.

It’s hard to imagine what Hartnett or his agents were thinking when he

took this part. After his acclaimed performance in “Pearl Harbor” his

career was on the rise, but this will certainly derail it for awhile.

All in all this is a pretty bland movie. It’s not as offensive as you

might think based on the premise. The scene showing a priest kissing a

nun may offend some Catholics. Other than that its just another mindless

movie whose only purpose is to fill seats and stock the video store

shelves. Forget this one and buy a good book.

* CLEM DOMINGUEZ, 57, is an aspiring screenwriter and film fanatic.