Product Details

• Actors: Josh Hartnett, Shannyn Sossamon, Paulo Costanzo, Adam Trese, Emmanuelle Vaugier
• Directors: Michael Lehmann
• Writers: Rob Perez
• Producers: Debra Hayward, Eric Fellner, Jennifer J. Thomas, Liza Chasin, Michael London
• Format: PAL
• Language: German (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (Dolby Digital 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Subtitles: German, English, French, Bulgarian, Arabic, Hebrew
• Region: Region 2 (Read more about DVD formats.)
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Run Time: 96 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (127 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000067FYA
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #620,843 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "40 Days and 40 Nights" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

After being brutally dumped by his knockout ex-girlfriend, Matt (Josh Hartnett, Pearl Harbor) is so torn up inside that he vows to give up sexual activity--including masturbation--for Lent. His friends and coworkers start betting on how soon he'll crack. Their skepticism is given fuel when Matt meets Erica (Shannyn Sossamon, A Knight's Tale) at a laundromat. They're immediately smitten with each other, but Matt struggles to stay true to his vow, even though it threatens to founder his potential relationship with Erica. Based on this description, you might think that 40 Days and 40 Nights is religious educational video--however, the barrage of sex gags and frequent nudity would quickly dispel this notion. Almost nothing in this movie remotely resembles human behavior. Some movies are so deeply stupid that they're depressing to watch; this is one of them. --Bret Fetzer

From The New Yorker

Matt (Josh Hartnett), a San Francisco Web designer from a Catholic family, gets dumped by his glamorous girlfriend and decides to swear off sex for Lent. Tripping and falling all over the place, his eyes brimming with panic, Hartnett throws himself into the performance physically and some of his corkscrew desperation is funny. But the director, Michael Lehmann, allows the actor to repeat himself a lot, perhaps because the screenwriter, Robert Perez, hasn't written enough for the character. Who is this guy? It's not so much sex that Matt seems eager to avoid as it is speech, and, after a while, he just seems like a dope who has committed himself to a meaningless stunt. The movie is set among allegedly hip San Francisco people in their twenties, but the sensibility is naggingly adolescent. -David Denby
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ignore the professional reviewers/critics, March 2, 2002

By A Customer

I've found the greater amount of movies disappoint me, but Josh Hartnett has proven himself to be one of the rare actors of Hollywood, who takes risks and can laugh at himself. This movie was upbeat, snappy writing, although not as hyperactive as "The Gilmore Girls" and moved at a great pace, not too slow, not too fast. I laughed out loud often, along with the rest of the audience.
The theme exposes how young, hip, single men look at thier own sexual needs as opposed to how we woman view sex. A handsome hunk who apparently has no problems attracting woman, Josh's character is carrying around self-imposed sexual performance baggage after being dumped by a longtime girlfriend. His humorous, Catholic roots influence his choice to vow to 40 days of total sexual abstinance for Lent, in an attempt to once again attain control over his "issues".
I thought Hartnett and his co-stars did a terrific job of portraying the real but laughable status of men's basic sexual

needs/desires. This plot plays on the recent study that revealed how men think about sex every few moments. Yes, LOTS of guys watch porn, read Playboy and gratify themselves. This is no secret, and certainly easier to hear mention of than the perversions portrayed in so many other movies.
Unknown to him at first, Hartnett's co-workers and friends take the abstinance ball and run with it as a sub plot, while we watch Josh start to suffer. Throw in a tempting and available new love interest to test his will and the sexual tension heats up.
I found this movie far less offensive than most of the regularly available crud on prime time TV and more tame than you might expect, in terms of sexuality, language etc. Each character was developed enough to make the viewer believe them.
I suppose you could call this a guy movie, but any of us women who have lived with a man, will recognize the dilemma and actions of the main character and his cohorts.

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars So preposterous, I couldn't finish watching it., January 20, 2009

By 

arkham618 (Latrobe, PA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 40 Days and 40 Nights [VHS] (VHS Tape)

An utterly atrocious film. Not only is the premise completely ludicrous, but the (literal) climax of the movie depicts the protagonist being raped -- raped! -- by his spiteful ex-girlfriend, who is awarded a sizable cash prize for her crime. The protagonist is then harangued by his volatile love interest for "cheating" and forced to apologize! And all of this is somehow supposed to be funny. What. The. Hell?! If the roles had been reversed -- if the rape and humiliation of a female protagonist had been portrayed as a comical misunderstanding -- 40 Days & 40 Nights would have been barred from theaters for trivializing sex crimes and poking fun at their victims. How can anyone find this kind of sexual double-standard acceptable, let alone entertaining?

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars I didn't expect much, January 8, 2004

By 

"blahman2000" (Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 40 Days and 40 Nights (DVD)

Any sex comedy that has come out in the past couple of years seems to fall victim to the same tired set of gags and cliches. This movie is no exception. While it's premise may be original, it's execution is all too familiar.

Sexually frustrated male lead? Check!
Neurotic female who, for some unknown reason, the male is attracted to? Check!
A bunch of one-note friends who's lives revolve around sex? Check!
A stock pile of overused gags including the vexing "boner in public" gag? check!

Predictably, Matt (Hartnett) spends most of the movie trying to tear down the walls Erica (Sossamon) keeps throwing up between them. Half the time I have trouble figuring out what the big deal is each time she storms off upset. Apparently this is very common for Sossamon, who's played the same damn role in every movie I've ever seen her in. Kudos to whoever mentioned the part where she storm's off, forcing Matt to apologize for being raped. If I was Matt, I'd tell her to walk her ass into oncoming traffic.