Jason KingShe's Out of My League (3/10)
March 19th 2010 07:49
:
Review by Sean
Category: No Category
Due to so many screenings this week Sean kindly stepped in to view and write the review for "She's Out of My League" for me. Thanks Sean!
SHE'S OUT OF MY LEAGUE, the new anticipated comedy starring Jay Baruchel (Tropic Thunder) and Alice Eve (Starter For 10) is, to put it simply, out of IT's league. This film looked rather promising in the trailer and even many critics enjoyed it but it turns out it was a sad ATTEMPT - albeit a plagiarism of its nerdy-guy-struggles-to-get-ho t-girl predecessors (see 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN and AMERICAN PIE).
Kirk (Baruchel), and average joe, can't believe his luck. Though he's stuck in a seemingly dead-end job as an airport security agent, against all odds, Molly (Alice Eve), a successful and outrageously gorgeous babe, falls for him. Kirk is stunned. So are his friends, his family and even his ex-girfriend. Now he has to figure out how to make the relationship work, even though he'd be the first to admit she's totally out of his league.
(Thanks to Dreamworks)
As nerdy-guy-struggles-to-get-ho t-girl movies go, this actually does slip in quite well. The problems lie with the script. Every chance the writers had, they managed to have the characters say how ugly Kirk is, and how little chance he has of getting Molly. We understood this in the first five minutes. Yet every minute or two after that - for the rest of the film - we were told it. It got to a point where I could say the lines with the actors before they even said it.
Along with the repetitive nature of how ugly Kirk is, the film is actually two films in one. You coast along for the first forty minutes, watching Kirk and Molly fall for each other, then after a little misunderstanding (stolen from AMERICAN PIE), they break up. Kirk is devastated. His friends console him. He sets out to get her back. Now. If you think about how film structure works, this course of events take place at the end of the film, the massive climax where all seems lost yet they somehow are able to turn it around and save the day. This part of the film was about forty minutes in. It's an hour and a half film.Then the next fifty minutes he gets her back, and for some unknown (possibly because the writers of the real films where on strike?) these idiots just went copy/paste and repeated the first half to finish off the film.
Back to an earlier point I made of plagiarism (possibly because writing an "originalish" film was out of the writers league), this film steals famous quote and scene from other films. The worst of these being from Chasing Amy. T.J. Miller, (the guy you didn't see in Cloverfield because he was busy filming it) plays Stainer (Stifler? Anyone?) talks about how he was in love, but lost her, thus he was Chasing Tina...Dave was sitting next to me and turned to me at this point, stunned look on his face and said, "Was that just Chasing Amy?" I just nodded, it was all I could do.
I am honestly under the belief that when the writers strike kicked in (around the time this script would have been written) Dreamworks grabbed a couple of blokes off the street and said "here, watch these crappy teen comedies and write us something" And the blokes off the street did. Then the studio went and hired Jim Field Smith (who has come from England and done... well, nothing) and said "here, direct this. But before you do, watch these crappy teen comedies". And he did. And SHE'S OUT OF MY LEAGUE is what we got.
All this said; the film does have it moments. Stainer plays in a Hall and Oats cover band (which I will admit, was a good laugh, even if it was laughing from disbelief). Another scene Kirk has to shave his testicles, which is rather disturbing but very funny. But they're not enough to save the film. Baruchel is his usual awkward self but he had nothing to work with. Alice Eve is beautiful and great to look at but that's about all. As for the supporting characters, I remember two of them. Stainer and Kirk's car - a Chrysler Neon, possibly the worst car ever built.
So, the be blatantly honest, this film is not worth watching, unless you're so bored that watching paint dry seems fun... actually. I'd probably stick with the paint. Worth (3/10). Let's hope Baruchel can do better next time we see him in HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON.
Sean
SHE'S OUT OF MY LEAGUE, the new anticipated comedy starring Jay Baruchel (Tropic Thunder) and Alice Eve (Starter For 10) is, to put it simply, out of IT's league. This film looked rather promising in the trailer and even many critics enjoyed it but it turns out it was a sad ATTEMPT - albeit a plagiarism of its nerdy-guy-struggles-to-get-ho t-girl predecessors (see 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN and AMERICAN PIE).
Kirk (Baruchel), and average joe, can't believe his luck. Though he's stuck in a seemingly dead-end job as an airport security agent, against all odds, Molly (Alice Eve), a successful and outrageously gorgeous babe, falls for him. Kirk is stunned. So are his friends, his family and even his ex-girfriend. Now he has to figure out how to make the relationship work, even though he'd be the first to admit she's totally out of his league.
(Thanks to Dreamworks)
As nerdy-guy-struggles-to-get-ho t-girl movies go, this actually does slip in quite well. The problems lie with the script. Every chance the writers had, they managed to have the characters say how ugly Kirk is, and how little chance he has of getting Molly. We understood this in the first five minutes. Yet every minute or two after that - for the rest of the film - we were told it. It got to a point where I could say the lines with the actors before they even said it.
Along with the repetitive nature of how ugly Kirk is, the film is actually two films in one. You coast along for the first forty minutes, watching Kirk and Molly fall for each other, then after a little misunderstanding (stolen from AMERICAN PIE), they break up. Kirk is devastated. His friends console him. He sets out to get her back. Now. If you think about how film structure works, this course of events take place at the end of the film, the massive climax where all seems lost yet they somehow are able to turn it around and save the day. This part of the film was about forty minutes in. It's an hour and a half film.Then the next fifty minutes he gets her back, and for some unknown (possibly because the writers of the real films where on strike?) these idiots just went copy/paste and repeated the first half to finish off the film.
Back to an earlier point I made of plagiarism (possibly because writing an "originalish" film was out of the writers league), this film steals famous quote and scene from other films. The worst of these being from Chasing Amy. T.J. Miller, (the guy you didn't see in Cloverfield because he was busy filming it) plays Stainer (Stifler? Anyone?) talks about how he was in love, but lost her, thus he was Chasing Tina...Dave was sitting next to me and turned to me at this point, stunned look on his face and said, "Was that just Chasing Amy?" I just nodded, it was all I could do.
I am honestly under the belief that when the writers strike kicked in (around the time this script would have been written) Dreamworks grabbed a couple of blokes off the street and said "here, watch these crappy teen comedies and write us something" And the blokes off the street did. Then the studio went and hired Jim Field Smith (who has come from England and done... well, nothing) and said "here, direct this. But before you do, watch these crappy teen comedies". And he did. And SHE'S OUT OF MY LEAGUE is what we got.
All this said; the film does have it moments. Stainer plays in a Hall and Oats cover band (which I will admit, was a good laugh, even if it was laughing from disbelief). Another scene Kirk has to shave his testicles, which is rather disturbing but very funny. But they're not enough to save the film. Baruchel is his usual awkward self but he had nothing to work with. Alice Eve is beautiful and great to look at but that's about all. As for the supporting characters, I remember two of them. Stainer and Kirk's car - a Chrysler Neon, possibly the worst car ever built.
So, the be blatantly honest, this film is not worth watching, unless you're so bored that watching paint dry seems fun... actually. I'd probably stick with the paint. Worth (3/10). Let's hope Baruchel can do better next time we see him in HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON.
Sean
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