Josh Hartnett is a good looking kid who does not use his looks to put up a wall between him and the audience in this movie. He seems very human and sweet. This helps in a lot in this movie because he's the 'sex object' who is not getting any, and you don't mind not seeing him 'add another notch to the bedpost.'

Since all of his conquests make him feel bad or doomed for unhappiness, Matt (Hartnett) feels he must take drastic action by not giving in to any sexual urges.

He becomes the subject of an intense office pool and some of the girls who had bet on a specific day he would 'cave in' make moves on him. A website is dedicated to him and he is soon referred to as 'Vow Boy.'

The movie has a lot of laughs. A couple of scenes seem retundant and a couple don't belong at all, but for the most part this is pleasant enough entertainment. Josh gets some big laughs, more than anyone else, but his roommate and his boss get some too. Josh has some good chemistry with Shannyn Sossamon who plays Erica. 7/10.

SPOILERS Each year, we all claim we're going to give up something for Lent. Whether for religious reasons, physical reasons or even for a bet, we all have attempted, and mostly failed, to sacrifice those things we need the most. It'd be interesting to know how many have attempted to sacrifice sexual activity for that time. In 2002's '40 Days and 40 Nights', Josh Hartnett's character tries just that. Crammed full of sexual reference and incredibly dumb moments, '40 Days and 40 Nights' is saved from the oblivion where it so obviously belongs by the pure fact that it is occasionally entertaining. Yes it never makes you fall off your seat in laughter, and the characters are incredibly shallow, but more often than not, you can't help but find yourself smiling.

Matt Sullivan (Hartnett) is a mess. Never recovering from his last girlfriends rejection, he leaps from bed to bed only to find himself suffering psychological trauma and hallucinations. Deciding he needs to get his head sorted, Matt decides that it is time to give up sex. Thus for the 40 days and nights of Lent, he gives up all sexual activity. Including personal relief into the decision, Matt finds temptation constantly around the corner, not least from the fact that he has a new girlfriend in the shape of Erica (Shannyn Sossamon).

Firstly, lets ponder the impossibilities involved with '40 Days and 40 Nights'. There's the fact that at one point he makes Erica orgasm using a flower, a fact that women will happily condemn at a moments notice (although most have probably tried after watching this film). There's also the fact that if a man goes from constant sex to no relief of any kind, that he's not going to have a say in the matter. The body will find a way to make him let off steam. The fact that for the entire time Matt lasts in the film, he never once experiences any sort of wet dream (as would happen in such a sudden 'cold turkey' situation), is just evidence of how little the creators thought this premise through.

Away from practical impossibility, the film also suffers from the predictable fact that it is often incredibly crude. Whether it is a hot office worker spreading her legs on the photocopier or Matt's hallucinations of naked women, the film is never afraid to lower the tone beyond sensible parameters. At just over an hour and a half long, it is just one long smut joke, and it's doubtful 'Confessions of a window cleaner' had this many sexual references.

All the characters are also incredibly shallow individuals. Obsessed with sex, every single girl offers herself to him in return for the possibility of winning money. At the same time, all of his friends, rather than supporting him, ridicule and humiliate him with an online betting syndicate. There's not an individual in the film that doesn't seem to be sex obsessed and superficial. This isn't real life, this is some sort of nightmarish fantasy.

So where do we go from here? There's so many criticisms about the film, there surely can't be any saving grace? Well, against all better judgement, there is. You see, whilst the film is crude, flawed and dumb, it is also at times entertaining. We're not talking hilarious or anything, but it does sometimes make you smile and enjoy it. You watch the story unfold, you really don't care for any of the characters, and yet you just can't turn it off. The film hooks you in and subjects you to ninety minutes of torture. Yet once it's finished, you do find yourself happy and content by what you've seen. It's always annoying when something like this happens, but when the story is really this bad, you find yourself even more frustrated.

Rude, crude, physically impossible and woefully shallow, '40 Days and 40 Nights' is not a good film. So it is with a heavy heart therefore to confess that you might actually enjoy it. It's a guilty pleasure. It's a film which is so inexplicably bad, and yet for some unknown reason, you find yourself occasionally smiling through it. You feel like the ninety minutes have been worthwhile, even though they haven't, and you genuinely believe that the film is worth anyone's attention. This is the evil of Hollywood at it's most pronounced and it's an annoying fact of life. You should hate this film, but you'll think you like it.

After his girlfriend dumps him Matt goes through a lot of meaningless sex that makes him feel bad,so in order to give himself time to recover he decides to give up sex and anything to do with sex for Lent.

I liked the idea, but the movie ended up being a disappointment.

Josh Hartnett is pretty bad in this movie. I can't think of any other movies with him, but considering that I know his name he did a few, so he might be a good actor. But this movie really doesn't show it. I wonder if he even knew it was a comedy, because he sure didn't act as if he did.

Actually besides having a more or less original idea for a romantic comedy the movie didn't go too far from it. The joke was pretty much the same all through 90 minutes. And it was also stupid. It was the kind of sentiment I would expect for a teen movie, but the characters in this one were in their 20's, the whole "omg the poor guy can't live without sex" thing is just dumb. And this is what the whole movie was about, exaggerated and annoying.

Also, while I think sex themed comedies can be very funny. Only this one was trying to be romantic, and this is what made her sexual theme fail. Some of the jokes were off, and seemed more vulgar than funny for the genre. Actually the only time I laughed was at the Bagel Boy.

The story was not well thought through. It makes no sense whatsoever to me why Erica was mad at Matt about the whole abstinence thing. It's not like he decided not to have sex ever again in his life, or that it was a personal insult to her or that he was supposed to tell everything about himself on one date only. Silly. Same as the ending. I don't want to spoil, but what happened with Nicole was in no way funny. And it was also pretty unnecessary, one could have done it better without it.