She's Out of My League

Alice Eve plays Molly who is very hot. Jay Baruchel plays Kirk who is not. That is the entire plot of She’s Out of My League. Comedies don’t have to be heavy on plot but I would like it to go somewhere. Even Clerks managed to throw some unexpected curveballs into Dante’s day. This movie goes nowhere.

There are a million movies about relationships and audiences know all of the familiar beats. There are two ways to make the movie feel fresh and new: the participants and the world around them. Let’s focus on the latter first. The only “conflict” in this movie is everybody in the world telling Kirk that Molly is way too attractive for him. That’s not a worthy situation. Every single sitcom uses this format. Even Fred Flintstone knew that he was one lucky caveman to end up with Wilma.

So then what about the couple? Are they at all interesting? No! Eve is very attractive so she fulfills that aspect of being a “10.” Beyond being really good-looking, she is insanely boring. She has no character traits and Eve drops the ball with almost every line. I didn’t even believe she was rooting for a team in hockey. Baruchel’s Kirk is also void of many character traits. People keep saying he’s funny, but he doesn’t really tell too many jokes. He’s a slacker, kinda, but I think that’s now just movie lingo for “has a bad job.” Even though his character is very boring, Baruchel is a talented comedic actor and can alleviate above the material. Not even he can save himself from overexplaining his situation to his friends every other scene.

There is one actress who I thought did a great job, despite the lame material. Her name is Krysten Ritter and she plays the “Judy Greer” role to Molly. She’s the best friend who doesn’t have a story arc, but somehow Ritter snuck a few laughs out of me. After seeing her range from Veronica Mars to Breaking Bad, it’s just a matter of time before she’s popping up at more movies.

The bonus features are underwhelming as well. There is a seven-minute sketch about dating tips with two of the minor characters that doesn’t live up to its potential. The gag reel and deleted scenes are both short and don’t have much to offer. Only the director, Jim Field Smith, was on the commentary track and I wish there was someone for him to talk to. He was quiet too often and if someone was there they could have probed stories out of him. Instead he just said stuff like “______ is great.” “Those aren’t real stairs.” “It rained that day.”

Despite being just an overall boring movie, none of the scenes were ones that I hated. (Aside from the ending requiring stunt men to pull off the dramatic prat falls for unnecessary reasons.) The movie is never offensive, just underachieving. None of the jokes or scenarios will be remembered by the time the credits conclude but it’s not infuriating. Just…whatever.

Movie: 2 Yaps

Extras: 2 Yaps

http://www.thefilmyap.com/2010/06/22/shes-out-of-my-league-2/