She’s Out of My League (2010)
She’s Out of My League(USA) Directed by Jim Field-Smith Written by Sean Anders; John Morris Starring Jay Baruchel; Alice Eve; Lindsay Sloane; Mike Vogel; Nate Torrence; TJ MIller; Kyle Bornheimer; Jessica St. Clair; Krysten Ritter; Geoff Stults
Thirty one year old Brit Jim Field-Smith directs from a script written by the team of Sean Anders and John Morris (Sex Drive; Hot Tub Time Machine). She’s Out of My League (which was originally entitled Hard 10)stars the rail thin Jay Baruchel (Undeclared; Knocked Up; Tropic Thunder) as nerd-boy/TSA agent/under-achiever Kirk. His love interest is Molly, played by British actress Alice Eve, who struggles with her put-on American accent, but is at least fittingly gorgeous enough to inspire some of the fuss. The basic premise is that lovable loser Kirk has a shrewish ex, Marnie (Lindsay Sloane), who insists on bringing her new boyfriend around to visit Kirk’s horrible immediate family, a nowhere job, and a group of equally stalled friends. He has some aspirations to become a pilot, but his low self-esteem prevents him from taking the steps necessary to achieve his dreams. He bumps into the beautiful Molly while at work, does her a favor, and the two begin a relationship that seems doomed from the start. Kirk’s friends school him on the utter hopelessness of their mis-matched coupling, mainly because he’s a “five” and she a “ten” and one can never jump more than a few spots from one’s station. Tj Miller (Stainer); Nate Torrence (Devon); and Mike Vogel (Jack) make up Kirk’s odd group, and their collective advice ranges from horrible to sound. The film has a number of funny moments, and several over the top gross out gags one would expect from a modern comedy aimed at younger viewers. As it reaches its conclusion, however, the enterprise begins to devolve into predictable standard fare, hitting many of the usual notes covered in films occupying this new genre territory. The best of these Apatow-like films manage to transcend the foolishness of their premise by establishing relatively plausible characters and story-lines we can buy into. Though not without its charms, She’s Out of My League fails to sustain the momentum it establishes early on, rendering it an entertaining, but ultimately unmemorable addition to a growing collection of the type.