Title: She's Out of My League (2010)Starring: Jay Baruchel, Alice Eve, T.J. Miller
Directed By: Jim Field Smith
I'm not the biggest fan of romantic comedies. Mainly because their plots are implausible and constantly predictable at every turn, their casts are usually whomever is "hot" right now, and they typically go to extreme lengths to add obstacles for the relationship(s) at the heart of the story. This movie is guilty of all that AND one more fatal flaw: it gets way too caught up in it's own set of dating rules.
The female lead is CONSTANTLY referred to as "a 10" and the guy is CONSTANTLY called "a 5". There are probably five or six bits of dialogue in which this is discussed. I was SO over the whole argument before the 3rd time it came up.
The audience GETS what she sees in him. We're practically beaten over the head with how nice the guy is. Were there really no jokes to be had in more of a "fish out of water" story than letting despicable characters do despicable things all while dropping a slew of F-Bombs? The guy's family are monsters, the girl's family are uptight and dismissive. Let each of the characters react to the horrors that each other has to deal with! That alone is enough to spawn a love affair. He gets her, and she gets him. Finding someone to connect with should have been enough plot fodder for the writers, but instead they are SO hung up on talking about how mis-matched the couple is. EVEN THOUGH THEY'RE NOT BECAUSE THE AUDIENCE IS TOLD TO CARE ABOUT THEM!!!
That the story is so mishandled causes a real conundrum for reviewing this movie. Jay Baruchel is charming and witty. Alice Eve is attractive and sincere. T.J. Miller, Nate Torrence and Lindsay Sloane are funny foils for our protagonists. But even with all that going for it, it's the plot itself that keeps them from succeeding. There's really no reason to see any more than the first 20 minutes of this movie, cuz they'll just repeat a few times and end with guy kissing girl. Oh, spoiler alert.
Score: 5/10
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