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I am a big fan of underdog films like "She's Out of My League." Films
like "Tao of Steve" and "The 40 Year Old Virgin" are the types of
romance comedies that somehow touch down on the realism of romance and
what types of men often feel what life is handing them. This doesn't
exactly stereotype men like all other romance films do, it instead
depicts them as affectionate helpful individuals who have a special
relationship with one another and Jim Field Smith never devalues the
influence men have on one another. "She's Out of My League" is depicted
in the trailers as something of a sex comedy, but in reality it's a very
touching and down to Earth romance comedy that digs deep and explores
the inner most emotions of the average male, the man who doesn't feel
like he's worth much, even when there's a golden opportunity standing in
front of him. Jay Baruchel plays Kirk, the ultimate nice guy who by
coincidence happens to meet and fall for Molly, a nice and utterly
beautiful young woman who somehow finds something different with him
than she has with other guys who were more hunky and muscle bound. What
begins as a friendly favor eventually progresses in to an honest
relationship that could spell doom if Kirk's family has anything to do
about it. In spite of being genuinely funny there's a pretty thick
undertone of sadness in the story because Kirk is a pretty tragic
character.
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Even though he's very kind and
charming he's basically bullied, manipulated and humiliated
by almost everyone in his life. The only people who actually
root for him are his three buddies at his job who try to
smack sense in to him. There's not a single forced
performance in this film and that basically benefits the
believability of the relationships here. Alice Eve is
dynamite as Molly, a very interesting and charming person
who grows to love Kirk the more time she spends around him. |
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She's a solid ten, as many of the
characters describe her to be. Baruchel can do just about any role
(check out "Nick & Norah" for proof) and plays this average Joe with
a piss poor self esteem very well.
The sad aspect about
him is that regardless of whether his family is supportive or just
generally cruel to him, his self-defeating attitude is what
ultimately proves to be his undoing with Molly, and watching the two
form this bond is very engrossing and touching. The supporting
players are very good as TJ Miller, Mike Vogel (both of whom starred
in the excellent "Cloverfield"), and Nate Torrence serve as various
forms of the male ego, examples of what Kirk tries to be. Vogel is
the alpha male, Miller is the self hating double to him, and
Torrence is the sensitive male whose outlook on life benefits him in
social situations. Their friendship is very interesting and they're
the only people keeping Kirk from going under. There's also the
standout Krysten Ritter, a very cold personality who also manages to
find Kirk hard to resist and becomes a source of positive
re-enforcement for Molly. Writers Anders and Morris know how to
write humanistic characters and their ability to create these three
dimensional people is what keeps us constantly rooting for Kirk to
get the girl. When the story comes full circle it makes for some
crowd pleasing entertainment with a raucous finale open to many
possibilities for these two truly endearing people.
While I did mostly
enjoy the movie, I couldn't believe that after a basically original
film that they went with a climax that ends with our main character
racing to meet up with his love interest. We get so much of this
cliché finale with other romance comedies I was disappointed to see
them rely on such an ancient plot device and set piece. Anything
would have been better than this cheesy finisher and in a world
where airport security is very tight, it's far fetched to believe
these people would be able to race across the terminal knocking
people over and beating on one another without eventually being
stopped or arrested.
In spite of a pretty
much cliché and disappointing finale, "She's Out of My League"
definitely lives up to its potential and promises with a hilarious well
written script and solid performances accompanied by complex and likable
characters and a crowd pleasing romance us fives can get behind.

- Molly's parents
are played by Alice Eve's real-life parents, Trevor Eve and Sharon
Maughan.
- Alice Eve is
ridiculously gorgeous.
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