You don’t go to movies like this one expecting innovation, insight or incisive social commentary. You hope for a couple of fun hours of escapist froth that is not too corny, not too juvenile and provides some laughs. Surely that’s not setting the bar too high, you’d think…but how often these romcoms stumble and fall in a miserable heap of sentiment and cliche, leaving you bored at best, or more often, irritated or scowling with contempt.
At least this one’s not about 30-somethings. That’s when the nausea-warning needle really starts to gyrate in the red zone. Nope, this is Gen Y going for the giggles.
And I’m pleased to report that She’s Out Of My League hits the spot OK.
Formulaic, of course: weedy nerd meets spunky gal, somehow they get together, then they fall out, then they get together again. The End.
On the way through, though, there are enough laughs and instances of irreverence/political incorrectness to keep you onside, and the actors seem to be having a lotta fun – which is infectious. Basically, this is Porky’s a few years later, with the frat house replaced by the workplace.
It’s all a bit cartoonish, there’s some obligatory gross-out stuff that is not too painful (actually, one such scene involving premature ejaculate and an appreciative pet dog is pretty funny if you’re not too mature about it all – not up with the sprog hair gel scene from There’s Something About Mary, but enough to produce something akin to an epileptic fit in a young bloke two seats from me, and general eruptions of hilarity throughout the theatre).
Jay Baruchel is endearing as Kirk, the nerdy loser-scores-a-win protagonist, and Alice Eve is the goods as Molly, his “10 outta 10” love interest – with echoes of Reese Witherspoon circa Legally Blonde in her look and performance (ah yes, I do not confine myself to the indie film circuit…I git around).
Da boys – Kirk’s mates – tick all the boxes with their post-Porky’s males-behaving-badly thang. Swearing, Neanderthal sexual advice served with gratuitous boasts of unlikely conquests, and all-round jokey vulgarity abound, as is only right and proper among members of this sort of tribe.
Entertaining, amusing and forgettable – what else you want from dis sorta movie, eh? More enjoyable than some of the arthouse shit I’ve seen recently, I can tell ya that.
For other Boomtown Rap movie reviews, see Movie Review Archives