This is Jay Baruchel. You’ve seen him in a handful of movies, such as “Knocked Up” or “Tropic Thunder”. He’s one of those actors that when you see him in commercials for “She’s Out Of My League”, you say things like “Oh, it’s that guy!”. Well, we may need to get used to seeing Baruchel in the comedic-leading man role a la Ben Stiller, Paul Rudd, or Steve Carell because he is definitely the real deal. Hey, Baruchel even headlines a movie that made more cash in one weekend than the supposed breakout role for “Twilight” douchebag Robert Pattinson!
By no means is “She’s Out Of My League” a genre-bending, non-formulaic R-rated romantic comedy. It is filled with all the romantic comedy cliched characters and plot turns that you see in those awful PG-rated Reese Witherspoon or Katherine Heigl car crashes (please take note, I’ve ripped three big stars of other films to this point. Impressed?). However, this movie succeeds due to the likability of Baruchel and his co-stars.
Baruchel is Kirk, a TSA at Pittsburgh International Airport with a white trash ex-girlfriend (Lindsay Sloane), a family that likes her more than him, and a circle of friends which include the good looking guy, the overly nice guy, and the wheels off guy. As I said, nothing new. One day, Molly (Alice Eve) forgets her iPhone at airport security, which Kirk retrieves and takes to her. Not surprisingly, they hit it off and away we go.
There are several hilariously funny situations written in by co-screenwriters John Morris and Sean Anders, who also wrote the upcoming “Hot Tub Time Machine”, which makes this month quite big for them. There is one moment involving male grooming that, while funny, is completely insane and would never in a million years happen. Fortunately, Morris and Anders wrote in enough syrupy sweetness between Baruchel and Eve to balance out the juvenile.
Leading the juvenile moments are Kirk’s friends, Stainer (TJ Miller), Jack (Mike Vogel), and Devon (Nate Torrance). While almost all of the foursome’s conversations are hysterically funny, T.J. Miller steals the show as the amazingly dim and obnoxious Stainer. Since I don’t want to give too much away, let’s just say that Hall & Oates gets involved in a brilliant and original way.
The entire movie falls apart if you don’t believe that Kirk and Molly could actually fall for each other. Eve proves to be more than a smoking hot blond and probably has a future in the Reese Witherspoon romantic comedy world. She’s definitely easy on the eyes, which may disguise any shortcomings. Baruchel doesn’t have that luxury and he carries this movie from beginning to end. He makes you believe that Molly could fall in love with him and if he can pull that off, the sky could be the limit for him.
The White Bread
“She’s Out Of My League” really is a typical romantic comedy. It just happens to be loaded with f-bombs and awkwardly hilarious moments or as I like to call it, a work luncheon. It is definitely a good one to take your girlfriend/wife to see and you won’t be ashamed of yourself…like you would as you walk out after seeing “Remember Me” or “Dear John” or <insert clever name here>.
