101 Greatest Screenplays of the 21st Century (*so far)

While there are scores of movies that have plumbed the seemingly boundless comedic depths of the eternal drive to lose one’s virginity (from Porky’s to American Pie, examples run into the dozens), this Judd Apatow/Steve Carell classic went where none had gone before, telling a tale not about a young person, but rather a 40-year-old electronics store sales rep. The genre was made entirely new by this wrinkle—excessive body hair needed to be ripped clean and, oddly enough, the deeper quest for real human intimacy emerged more powerfully.