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. 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. 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.