Title: She’s Out of My League Pitchforks: 2.5 out of 5 Starring: Jay Baruchel, Alice Eve Rating: R
With Valentine’s Day woes still fresh in my mind, this unfortunate soul was hungry for a fresh, fun romantic comedy. “She’s Out of My League,” a DreamWorks film starring Jay Baruchel and Alice Eve, was close but no cigar.
This film has Kirk (Baruchel), a pathetic but nice airport security guard who is unlucky in love, and Molly (Eve), a beautiful lawyer turned event planner, fall into each other’s lives thanks to a few unbelievable coincidences. The two start dating with their friends, who — on both sides — are in shock.
If this sounds like a cliché to you, guess what? It is. What’s worse is that it’s just not funny. For the most part, it resorts to cheap and gross laughs with characters flashing their lower appendages to each other or in more uncomfortable situations that I refuse to type. If it belongs in your pants, it’s fair game in this film.
If this is your thing, then more power to you. I’ve seen “American Pie” before, so it’s out of my system.
One of the weirder things about “She’s Out of My League” is the obscene amount of Disney references. Every animated musical from the 1990s gets a turn. I think it’s supposed to be a running gag, but it comes off as some kind of cross promotion between DreamWorks and its parent company.
Having said this, “She’s Out of My League” does some things right. Like any good romantic comedy, it gives the supporting characters plenty of screen time. This movie is at its best when Kirk and his best buds are bro-ing out. His family steals the show whenever they are on screen thanks to their ability to make Kirk fidget.
While the movie is lacking on the comedy half of the romantic comedy, it has more feel-good moments than you could ask for.
Kirk’s pathetic nature even started to grow on me, and by the end I was cheering for him a little. This helped the movie end on a high note.
Does this make up for its flaws? Not really. If you don’t care about laughs, this could work out for you.
Sadly, you can tell that the actors are normally very funny. It’s just that they don’t have much to work with.
So if you love National Lampoon movies and “American Pie,” but would like more heart than these normally have, see “She’s Out of My League.” If not, stay away.
The movie is not my cup of tea, but I can see the point.
Reach the reporter at affoote@asu.edu
