DVD REVIEWS OF NEW RELEASES.

Byline: Rob Lowman Entertainment Editor

More action on `40-Year-Old Virgin' disc

There's a scene in the unrated DVD of ``The 40-Year-Old Virgin'' not in the theatrical release where Andy Stitzer, the title character played by Steve Carell, is on the phone to a company's help line that tells you to call if your erection lasts more than four hours.

``How long ago did you take the product? he's asked. You can guess where this is going. Is this where the filmmakers drew the line for the hit film?

``I never knew where the line was,'' says Judd Apatow, the film's director and co-writer with Carell. ``That's what's fun about the DVD. I can show you everything I think was too offensive for the movie, and we have commentary tracks where I say, I'm really embarrassed that we even shot this. ... We definitely experimented with many things we're ashamed of and eventually we cut from the movie.''

But Apatow has little else to be ashamed of. While ``Virgin'' often ventures into raunchy territory, with sidesplitting results, it's also sweetly romantic, with engaging characters, anchored by Carell's everyman Andy, who somehow missed the sexual revolution, and Catherine Keener as a woman who, despite her experience (she's a young grandmother), hasn't given up on love.

``Catherine was Steve's first choice,'' says Apatow, who created the acclaimed TV series ``Undeclared'' and ``Freaks and Geeks.'' ``We were lucky to get her to somehow agree to do our movie, which always made us laugh because she had just finished a movie with Daniel Day-Lewis and had done 'Capote' before that. We were always making jokes how she was slumming with us.'' But Apatow credits her with taking the role ``very seriously,'' and ``setting a style that everybody fell in line with.''

``The 40-Year-Old Virgin'' evolved from a sketch that Carell developed while with the Second City improv comedy troupe. ``When we were shooting 'Anchorman,' '' says Apatow, who was one of that film's producers, ``it was pretty clear he was stealing all the scenes; so I walk to him one day and said, 'Do you have any ideas for a movie you can be the lead in?' ''

And while there may have been a script, it is pretty evident that there was also a lot of improv - particularly from Andy's pals - the bitter, brokenhearted David (Paul Rudd), the philandering Jay (Romany Malco) and the good-hearted but clueless Cal (Seth Rogen).

``I try to hire actors comfortable with breaking off from the script,'' says the director, who himself is ``not even 40 yet'' and is married to actress Leslie Mann, who has a hilarious scene in the film. ``So we would shoot the scene, and then I would let it expand. I was also a terrified first-time director; so I tried to do my reshoots during the shoots.''

Apatow is planning another romantic comedy for next year starring Rogen and his wife. He also wrote the screenplay for the upcoming ``Fun With Dick and Jane,'' starring Jim Carrey.

``I got two kids - I got to keep writing.'' When asked why there are so many film remakes, Apatow thoughtfully cites the fact that film is a relatively young art, and ``most of us are remaking Shakespearean plays in one form or another.''

So what does that make ``The 40-Year-Old Virgin'' - ``Hamlet''? To do it or not to do it?

``The 40-Year-Old Virgin - Unrated Edition'' or ``R'' edition (Universal; $29.90 each.)

`The Island,' 'Bad News Bears,' 'Valiant,' 'Kronk's New Groove,' 'Saint Ralph'

Take a provocative concept, add a solid group of actors, let Michael Bay direct, and what do you get? A Michael Bay film. The director (``Bad Boys,'' ``The Rock,'' ``Pearl Harbor'') seems to know only one way to make a movie - loud and overblown.

The setup for ``The Island'' is initially interesting. Lincoln Six-Echo (Ewan McGregor) is a member of a controlled, contained facility in the near future. He has been told he is a survivor of a disaster and may one day get to go to the island - the last uncontaminated place on Earth. The reality is that he and Jordan Two-Delta (Scarlett Johansson) are clones of rich people waiting to be harvested for their organs. Lincoln's curiosity leads him to the truth, and he and Jordan escape, pursued by a hired hit team.

And this is where Bay is relentless, with seemingly endless violent chases. There was little sense in hiring good actors like McGregor, Johansson, Sean Bean, Steve Buscemi or Djimon Hounsou. And as for addressing timely questions about the ethics of cloning - forget it.

Billy Bob Thornton is able to make the role of Coach Buttermaker in ``Bad News Bears'' his own. Richard Linklater's update of Michael Ritchie's 1976 film - about reject Little Leaguers and their reprobate coach, played by the irascible Walter Matthau - may not have needed to be remade, but at least it was done with style.

The animated ``Valiant'' - about a homing-pigeon brigade during World War II - would seem obscure for most kids. But there are a few amusing moments and nice work from the voice cast of Ewan MacGregor, John Cleese, Tim Curry and Ricky Gervais.

Disney has a moderately entertaining direct-to-video sequel of ``The Emperor's New Groove'' called ``Kronk's New Groove.'' Patrick Warburton is the voice of the somewhat dim-witted Kronk. The voice cast also features David Spade and John Goodman.

``Saint Ralph,'' based on a true story, aims to be a feel-good movie. Ralph is a Canadian teen in the 1950s out to win the Boston Marathon while hoping that his mother will come out of her coma. The film never achieves a consistent feel in all its attempts at quirkiness.

``The Island'' (DreamWorks; $29.99)

``Bad News Bears'' (Paramount; $29.95)

``Valiant'' (Disney; $29.99)

``Kronk's New Groove'' (Disney; $29.98)

``Saint Ralph'' (Columbia; $24.96)

`Sin City,' `Airplane,' `Death Race 2000,' `Gallipoli,' `The Producers,' `Ray Harryhausen Gift Set'

`Frank Miller's Sin City: Recut, Extended, Unrated'' adds 23 minutes to the Richard Rodriguez adaptation of three of Miller's graphic-novel stories. It's still a brutal but visually stunning work, but now some of the transitions between stories are smoothed out. For those with strong stomachs, this ``Sin City'' is definitely worth checking out.

Other reissues of note: the still-funny ``Airplane -The `Don't Call Me Shirley' Edition''; the campy ``Death Race 2000 - Special Edition,'' which was directed by Paul Bartel, produced by Roger Corman and starred David Carradine; Peter Weir's marvelous ``Gallipoli,'' about the awful battle of World War I; Mel Brooks' original and classic 1969 ``The Producers''; and the ``Ray Harryhausen Gift Set,'' which collects three of the special-effects wizard's films - ``20 Million Miles to Earth,'' ``It Came From Beneath the Sea'' and ``Earth vs. The Flying Saucers.''

``Frank Miller's Sin City - Recut, Extended, Unrated'' (Dimension; $39.99)

``Airplane - The `Don't Call Me Shirley' Edition'' (Paramount; $19.99)

``Death Race 2000 - Special Edition'' (Disney; $19.99)

``Gallipoli'' (Paramount; $15.99)

``The Producers - Deluxe Edition'' (MGM; $19.94)

``Ray Harryhausen Gift Set'' (Columbia; $49.95)

`Long Way Round,' `Gilmore Girls,' `Footballers Wives' and more TV

Ewan McGregor made a reality series called ``Long Way Round,'' a documentary detailing the 20,000-mile motorcycle trip he took with his friend Charley Boorman over 115 days. Their trek took them from London through places like Mongolia, Siberia and Canada, and ended in New York City. The seven-episode series that aired on Bravo was much better than most reality shows, with McGregor and Boorman being interesting characters in their own right.

The fifth season of the WB's ``Gilmore Girls'' had some dramatic growing pains, which made for compelling viewing, with Rory (Alexis Bledel) becoming more of a woman - and her mother, Lorelai (Lauren Graham), worried about her daughter's behavior.

BBC's racy ``Footballers Wives,'' about the women married to the members of a British pro soccer team, gets racier on DVD, with nudity and such.

``Long Way Round'' (Goldhil; $19.99)

``Gilmore Girls - The Complete Fifth Season'' (Warner; $59.90)

Footballers Wives - The Complete Second Season (BBC; $34.98)

``The Simpsons - The Complete Seventh Season'' (Fox; $49.90)

``Miami Vice - Season Two'' (Universal; $59.98)

``Dukes of Hazzard - The Complete Fifth Season'' (Warner; $38.98)

``Reba - Season 2'' (Fox; $39.98)

``The Newsroom - The Complete First Season'' (Goldhil, $24.98)

Rob Lowman, [phone]

robert.lowman(at)dailynews.com

See the enormity of `Kong' production To learn all you could possibly want to know about the making of ``King Kong,'' check out ``King Kong: Peter Jackson's Production Diaries.'' In stores Tuesday, this two-disc DVD (Universal; $39.98) collects 54 entries from the Kong Is King Web site, where director Jackson and company posted video logs from their Wellington, New Zealand, production locations from September 2004 through April 2005. There is also a bonus entry that follows the development of the film's most exciting action sequence, and it all comes in distressed-looking faux 1930s packaging with a photo book, four art prints and a limited-edition certificate of authenticity.

The diaries basically cover every aspect of the mega-production, from set construction to special-effects creation, as well as the nitty gritty of filmmaking, such as cameras and film development. In other words, there's some pretty boring, albeit informative stuff. In that way, it just's like being on a movie shoot.

But Jackson is nothing if not a world-class entertainer, and the diaries are enlivened by both filmmaking humor (who knew so much research and artistry went into creating realistic-looking animal droppings?) and staged silliness.

As his side character of ship's cook Lumpy, Kong-player Andy Serkis guides a hilariously stomach-turning tour of the S.S. Venture's galley and head. Jack Black has a height-issue attack. The ``Day in the Life of Peter Jackson'' entry is unintentionally funny; the guy is so exhausted by the time this comes around, it's hilarious just to watch him drift through an average workday. And the satiric bit about planning back-to-back ``Kong'' sequels is so poker-faced perfect that it almost makes you believe ``Son of Kong vs. the Nazis'' will be in theaters next summer.

Film geeks will find a treasure trove, from displays of the 1933 ``Kong's'' original dinosaur models to demonstrations of how Depression-era New York was built digitally from the ground up to the spire of the Empire State Building for the new movie.

And you can marvel at the Incredible Shrinking Pete, as the results of Jackson's healthy diet over the length of the shoot truly put the former fatty in contention for Eighth Wonder of the World.

- Bob Strauss

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1) CATHERINE KEENER and STEVE CARELL in ``The 40-Year-Old Virgin''

(2) LAUREN GRAHAM and ALEXIS BLEDEL in ``The Gilmore Girls''

(3) PETER JACKSON