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She's Out of My League
A charming performance by the very talented Jay Baruchel and a screenplay with a few surprise make a 2010 comedy called She's Out of My League a little better than it really is.
Baruchel plays Kirk, a nerdy airline security officer who finds himself in a dream relationship with a beautiful former lawyer turned party planner named Molly (Alice Eve). Howver, Kirk's lack of self-esteem and outside interference from his and her family and friends eventually begin to eat away at the relationship.
Screenwriters Sean Anders and John Morris, who would later collaborate on Instant Family and Spirited have concocted a story that initially seems to be a retread of a lot of 80's teen comedies that found the nerdy guy somehow finding romance with a girl that we all know there is no way he would have a chance with in real life. At about the halfway point of the story, we are ready to write everything off as horny male fantasy and then during the scene where they are about to have sex for the first time, all the issues that the viewer is having difficulty swallowing are addressed onscreen and what was waning interest in what was going on begins to gain cinematic legs, leading to an outrageous variation of the "rushing to the airport" scene that was a staple of 80's rom-coms that has the viewer re-invested in the story again.
Baruchel gives us a completely likable character in Kirk, a guy who knows exactly who he is and has resigned himself to being alone for the rest of his life. Of course, there are the accustomed roadblocks for Kirk and Molly, especially the exes who decide that they want them back. Love the scene where Molly's ex interrupts her first date with Kirk and the scene where Kirk's ex agrees to take him back because she thinks Molly has broken up with him. Neither of these scenes play out the way we expect them to.
Director Jim Field Smith keeps things bouncy and exuberant and works really well with his cast. TJ Miller, who I LOVED in Office Christmas Party is a total scene stealer as Kirk's BFF, as is Krysten Ritter as Molly's BFF and Lyndsey Sloane as Kirk's ex brings new meaning to the term "psycho hose beast." It's no When Harry Met Sally, but it was a lot better than I expected it to be.
A charming performance by the very talented Jay Baruchel and a screenplay with a few surprise make a 2010 comedy called She's Out of My League a little better than it really is.
Baruchel plays Kirk, a nerdy airline security officer who finds himself in a dream relationship with a beautiful former lawyer turned party planner named Molly (Alice Eve). Howver, Kirk's lack of self-esteem and outside interference from his and her family and friends eventually begin to eat away at the relationship.
Screenwriters Sean Anders and John Morris, who would later collaborate on Instant Family and Spirited have concocted a story that initially seems to be a retread of a lot of 80's teen comedies that found the nerdy guy somehow finding romance with a girl that we all know there is no way he would have a chance with in real life. At about the halfway point of the story, we are ready to write everything off as horny male fantasy and then during the scene where they are about to have sex for the first time, all the issues that the viewer is having difficulty swallowing are addressed onscreen and what was waning interest in what was going on begins to gain cinematic legs, leading to an outrageous variation of the "rushing to the airport" scene that was a staple of 80's rom-coms that has the viewer re-invested in the story again.
Baruchel gives us a completely likable character in Kirk, a guy who knows exactly who he is and has resigned himself to being alone for the rest of his life. Of course, there are the accustomed roadblocks for Kirk and Molly, especially the exes who decide that they want them back. Love the scene where Molly's ex interrupts her first date with Kirk and the scene where Kirk's ex agrees to take him back because she thinks Molly has broken up with him. Neither of these scenes play out the way we expect them to.
Director Jim Field Smith keeps things bouncy and exuberant and works really well with his cast. TJ Miller, who I LOVED in Office Christmas Party is a total scene stealer as Kirk's BFF, as is Krysten Ritter as Molly's BFF and Lyndsey Sloane as Kirk's ex brings new meaning to the term "psycho hose beast." It's no When Harry Met Sally, but it was a lot better than I expected it to be.