Reviewed by
Christopher Armstead
I’m watching this movie ‘She’s Out of My League’ and I’m trying to place actress Alice Eve. I know I’ve seen her somewhere recently but for the life of me I can’t remember where, I mean she’s an attractive blonde and whatnot but they do kind of all run together. But then near the end of this movie she utters the word ‘shit’. Mind she’s done a fine job of masking her British or accent all through this movie and you would think that one four letter one syllable word would be real easy but she let that one slip. But the minute she said that word in her natural voice it all came back to me where I remember her from. The immigration movie ‘Crossing Over’ getting black mailed for sexual favors by Ray Liotta who was threatening to turn her in. Now I remember. None of this has anything to do with this movie but it seems to me that what separates Alice Eve from other pretty blondes is that accent so why take it away? And for that matter why are we even importing white people to play Americans in American movies and television shows in this country? It’s an outrage!
Anyway, Kirk, as played by Jay Baruchel, is a guy who doesn’t have all that much success with ladies and has decided to get his girlfriend back. Sure she left him two years ago and is with some other dude and yes his friends can’t stand this evil heifer, but pickings are slim and Kirk is going for it and gets summarily rejected. Then one day Molly (Eve) enters the airport where Jay is a TSA security officer and Kirk does her a solid which leads to Kirk and Molly striking up a bit of a friendship. Kirk can’t believe this lovely woman would want to be his friend, considering he’s reported to be ranked at around a five and she’s a reported ten, though both numbers might be a little generous, but Kirk really loses it when Molly’s best mate Patty (Krysten Ritter) informs Kirk that’s Molly is ‘into him’.
Kirk’s friends, mainly his number one Stainer (T.J. Miller), inform him that this cannot possibly work out and is actually bad for the equilibrium of the universe. Patty informs Molly that it can’t work out because Kirk is the antithesis of the kind of dude Molly
usually ends up with. Kirk’s family pretty much informs him that it can’t work out and his ex-girlfriend is even willing to get back together with him just so that Kirk won’t have to deal with the eventual heartbreak that he will suffer through. It doesn’t help Kirk’s position that Molly has this perfect ex-boyfriend lurking around (Geoff Stults) with a nickname of footlong who has vowed to get Molly back.
Now what? Well this is a Romantic Comedy so naturally boy has to have this girl for a little while so that the boy can properly lose this girl so that boy can go through some mayhem and chaos to get this girl back. You know the routine, with the hope being that ‘She’s out of my league’ can entertain us within the routine. And to that end it does have its moments.
Here’s my number one issue with this movie and it has to do with a scene in this movie and this is a SPOILER so you know… stop reading if you care. In this scene Kirk and Molly are in her bedroom, Kirk is virtually naked and Molly is about as naked as she’s going to be in this movie. And even though Molly isn’t completely naked she is still looking mighty fine in a bra and matching panties. Then in the middle of making out and getting ready to get on down they have this discussion. This discussion upsets Kirk. Kirk leaves. Voluntarily. Of his own volition. Who in the HELL would actually do this? There are self-esteem issues and then there are deep rooted psychological issues that require professional help that a RomCom script cannot cure. I get that my man has self esteem issues, I get that this woman is a couple notches above his pay grade… but she is naked on the bed ready to have sex. I hate to be crude here but dude… get the pussy. I was trying to think of something else to say other than that, something that could get point across with equal effectiveness, but ‘get the sex’ or ‘close the deal’ or ‘do the do’ just wasn’t working. Get the pussy then deal with your issues. Does that make sense? Even if you’re a woman and even if you are offended by the terminology, I’m sure you will agree. If the woman is kind of enough to give it to you, take it, deal later. That’s all. That was kind of difficult for me to rationalize and get past.
The movie itself, like I said earlier, has its comedic moments. I don’t know if I was ever able to completely buy into Jay Baruchel and Alice Eve as a couple because they really didn’t click all that well together, but separately they were just fine. Alice Eve is attractive and her character was well drawn and Jay Baruchel was drolly funny in this movie. In the typical wise cracking RomCom best friends roles Krysten Ritter was far less irritating than T.J. Miller though he had his occasional moments as well. This is unrelated too but Krysten Ritter might be a little better looking than Alice Eve. Usually the wise cracking best friend is decidedly more unattractive than the female lead but here it’s a toss up. The best comedy was probably saved for Kirk’s RomCom dysfunctional family who never disappointed but for an R-Rated movie, and if you know before hand that the MPAA is going to saddle you with that R-Rating, then earn it baby. This one was kind of light on the crassness of its humor. Peel back some of the profanity and it’s a solid PG-13 all the way.
‘She’s Out of My League’ isn’t a bad RomCom, especially considering I’m not to terribly fond of the genre, but I’m thinking it might’ve been better served by going out there a little bit more. It had its good parts and I’d be lying if I said it didn’t make laugh, but I’m thinking it probably could’ve been funnier it took a few more risks, not to mention that little issue I had with it earlier. I’m just saying. Who would do that?
