She’s Out of My League (***½)

Directed by: Jim Field Smith

Starring: Jay Baruchel, Alice Eve, T.J. Miller, Mike Vogel, Nate Torrence, Lindsay Sloane, Kyle Bornheimer, Krysten Ritter, Debra Jo Rupp, Adam LeFevre, Geoff Stults

Seen: 26th and 30th June 2010

***½ Out of ****

Kirk Kettner (Baruchel) is pathetically single, and works at Pittsburgh International Airport as a TSA officer with a few friends and weird colleagues. While a flight is boarding an extremely attractive young woman comes through security, and when the team try to get her to strip off for security checks, Kirk assists her to move through quickly and bypass the weirdos. Molly (Eve) somehow remembers him, and when she forgets her phone in a security tray and Kirk finds it, she arranges for a meeting to get her phone back once she’s back in town. Against Kirk’s expectations, Molly invites him to a hockey game, where he learns from her best friend Patty (Ritter) that Molly sees this as a date, unbelievable as he might see it.

Queue his friends’ unbelief at Kirk’s good fortune, as they rate him a 5 out of 10, while Molly is a hard 10. Their theory claims you can’t date more than 2 points from your own rating, and that Kirk is doomed to fail because of this chasm. Despite all this, the two seem to last, much to the chagrin of Kirk’s family and the amazement of is friends. Along the way the usual quotient of gross-out comedy embarrassing moments occur, and Kirk is well-reminded of this by his friends up to a point where, for a stupid moment, even Kirk decides to give up as he and Molly experience their big fight. But as is the case with romantic comedies, the trajectory of the plot will have the two leads get back together eventually, just like the audience wants.

She’s Out of My League has its fair share of rude comedy, but the fact is that most of it works, delivering laugh out loud moments as a constant right through the movie. Jay Baruchel seems comfortable enough embarrassing himself that the viewer is almost instantly endeared to him and Alice Eve is sweet and attractive enough to pull off the hard 10. T.J. Miller is entertaining and funny as Stainer, Kirk’s best friend while his group of friends is effectively and very comically rounded off by Jack (Vogel) and Devon (Torrence). Kirk’s ex-girlfriend Marnie who only wants him back because he is seeing someone new is excellently played by Lindsay Sloane, who, under normal circumstances is a beautiful girl, but here her character makes her detestable. Krysten Ritter delivers some of the funniest lines in the movie as Patty.

She’s Out of My League is a very funny comedy that sits on the slightly raunchy side of the morals boundary with its fair share of bad language, but it is in fact also a very honest and open comedy that might just represent something than can actually happen in the real world. The chemistry between Baruchel and Eve is very believable, and there are moments where the viewer can vicariously experience their relationship with them. The lessons the movie offer also come in all shapes and sizes, as among others, Kirk and his friends have to learn that love can make a 5 a 10. She’s Out of My League is a surprisingly heartfelt romantic comedy, and apart from quite a few too many swearwords and one or two too many gross-out moments, it truly delivers more than any other romantic comedy has so far in 2010.