Film Review: SHE’S OUT OF MY LEAGUE

By Allison at March 13, 2010 | 10:05 pm | Print

by Allison S.
2.5 / 5 stars

She’s Out of My League is funny. More important, it’s not unfunny. So, so many recent comedies have the “funny” but with a rather high unfunny-to-funny content ratio. For every joke you laugh at in their trailers, there’s about 20 more you won’t laugh at while actually watching the film. Or there are simply no jokes left beyond the ones they’ve showed in commercials. She’s Out of My League manages to avoid that curse by 1) being funny pretty often throughout the film and 2) by not showing anything good in the trailer. Unfortunately, the downside of strategy #2 is that not showing the goods means not getting people to come watch your movie.

In the film, lanky TSA employee, Kirk (Jay Baruchel) happens to catch the interest of Molly (Alice Eve) when he doesn’t turn into the horny jerk that all the other guys become in her presence. For Molly is not just any woman. She’s a “hard 10″ on the hotness scale. Kirk’s friends, family, and random dudes everywhere are baffled how a mere 5 (points deducted for his crappy car, crappy job, and crazy family) could get a 10. Kirk spends most of the film getting bad advice from his friends on how to impress Molly, leading to some expected awkward moments as well as a hilarious, cringe-inducing ball-shaving scene. Luckily, the film allows Kirk to ignore his friends most of the time and just be himself, someone with heart who wins Molly over. But the stress of the hotness gap eventually wears down the couple and Kirk succumbs to believing that he’s “not good enough” for her, just as his friends and family have been telling him all along.

Now, as you can tell from the trailer and the  ball-shaving mention, this film is definitely sophomoric. But it doesn’t cross over the line to stupid and, in fact, it pokes fun at the sophomoric males of this world rather than glamorizing them. (That feels like a first.) It does, however, suffer from some over-the-top acting; it pounds the audience over the head with the already obvious life lesson it’s trying to teach; and it’s about 30 minutes into the film before it finally hits its groove. Despite all this, there were a few things that made me not want to give up on this movie.

It did things differently. Even if just a little differently. It might sometimes tell the same ol’ jokes but with a different punchline. Having familiar setups end with a new take on them is refreshing.  The stereotypical friends are there but with just a pinch more realism. The good-looking one of the bunch doesn’t spend the entire film easily hooking up with girls and, in fact, is nicely underplayed. The goofy friend is kept from stepping over the edge into creepiness simply because his character is married. And Molly’s “bitchy” friend certainly dishes it out, but instead of incessantly giving “duh” and “whatever” looks to everyone, she squints and pauses to remind she’s human and actually thinking about things.

Then there’s Jay Baruchel. You’ve seen him before in Tropic Thunder, Knocked Up, and Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, usually as some kind of geeky or awkward sidekick. Judd Apatow cast him as the star in the short-lived TV series Undeclared, specifically for his lanky physique and “awkward arms.” The dude is funny, and the longer you’re exposed to his character, the more things you find funny about him. His shtick is along the same lines as Michael Cera and Zach Braff (yet its his own), so it’s about time he starts getting the main role in these types of films. The “funny” and heart he adds to it is what makes it worth watching.

She’s Out of My League has too many likable things about it to just write it off. It almost feels like, with just a liiiittle more practice, this could really be something. Writers Sean Anders and John Morris did Sex Drive (whose trailer also surprised me with more funny than offensive) and the soon-to-be-released Hot Tub Time Machine. Writing words like “hot tub time machine” makes me feel conflicted. These guys have something good going on, but they need to add another member to their team — one that can rein them in and really make it solid.

I can almost imagine people calling this the American Pie for this generation, which would definitely sell it short. While far from perfect, this film has heart.

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