An implausible virgin

It’s interesting (though not much fun) to watch The 40-Year-Old Virgin because it’s a perfect example of what writing guides tell us never, never, never to do: Create a character who acts inconsistently and unconvincingly because it’s the only way to make the plot work.
(The fact the movie got made and did well doesn’t prove we can ignore the advice. Just like Ayn Rand publishing a long polemic successfully doesn’t means anyone can write a polemic novel and sell it. Some people just beat the odds).
The movie stars Steve Carrell as the shy nerd who has never known love or sex. His coworkers at an electronics/DVD store try to hook him up with a hot blonde who works nearby, while he strikes up a friendship with Catherine Keener as a businesswoman. Guided by her, he sets up an eBay business selling off his amazing array of collectibles, they fall in love, get married, he gets deflowered, happy ending.
The movie has a buttload of problems, including a lot of sleaze and sexism (when Carrell breaks his date with the blonde, one of the other guys goes into her room instead and apparently she’s just fine with that). But for the moment, let’s focus on how the film establishes Carrell as a shy nerd, but ignores it whenever inconvenient.
We’re introduced to Carrell working in the store’s back room, but later his boss (Jane Lynch) tells him she needs him to work the floor as a salesperson. Although he’s a shy, awkward guy (and Carrell, to his credit, plays that very well), he turns into one of the top salespeople, which gets him the bonuses he needs to launch his store (IIRC).
How does a shy nerd become an ace seller? He just does. It’s possible: Maybe his knowledge of the tech, or his ability to recommend the best movies puts him over the top. But we’re never shown this happen, Lynch just announces it. Given Carrell doesn’t seem any more outgoing, it’s very unconvincing.
Second there’s the fact that he doesn’t say or do anything particularly nerdy. You never hear him discuss anything SciFi or talk about his collection as anything but collectibles. For all the criticism of how nerds are portrayed on Big Bang Theory, the characters do at least display a knowledge of science, comics, SF movies, etc.
Which reminds me the movie also commits another sin, creating a character that makes no sense. One reason Carrell is able to make big money from his eBay store is that all his childhood toys are mint, sitting in the box, never played with. And he informs Keener at one point that it took a tremendous amount of willpower to keep them like that.
To which my response is WTF? I’m maybe seven or so years older than Carrell’s character, so I feel close enough to critique this point—and believe me, nobody back in the 1970s was preserving toys. We didn’t think of them as collectibles, or ever imagine they would be. They were something you played with, maybe mourned when they died or broke, but that’s all. So why the hell did he put them in boxes? Did he know he’d someday need to sell them? Inquiring minds want to know!
I admit I don’t like the movie, but even setting taste aside, I think it’s good example of How Not To Do It