She's Out of My League

Although purportedly a comedy, I was left depressed by She's Out of My League. To start with, I didn't find it funny, but beyond that I was disheartened by its slick production values and a cavalcade of unappealing characters. Perhaps the film's worst crime is one of attitude: The film, on it's face, would seem to be constructed to appeal to the typical Maxim reader, but it takes the easy way out and slides gelatinously into a cliche-ridden romantic comedy.

The premise is that an average guy, played by Jay Baruchel, meets a beautiful woman, who inexplicably wants to date him. She's played by Alice Eve. Baruchel's friends, an assortment of losers who work with him at the airport, either cheer him on or, in the case of a fellow called Stainer, jealously try to dissuade him, saying that he's a "five" and she's a "hard ten," and that there are rules about jumping two places. This Seinfeldian dialogue seems about twenty years out of place.

If Baruchel's friends are a sorry bunch (and it doesn't seem like they would be friends), his family is depicted as a stereotypical clan of white-trash yahoos. Of course they like NASCAR, Japanese game shows, and Branson, Missouri, and are aggressively uncouth. Not only do they seem about as real as leprechauns, they are vaguely insulting to the Scotch-Irish. It's like depicting a black family loving watermelon.

Anyway, Baruchel can't believe his good luck, especially since Eve is a character out of a man's dreams. Her imperfection is that she has one webbed toe. I wonder how Eve, an appealing actress, played this character. I imagine that she has a notebook full of backstory and all her likes and dislikes, but none of it made it into the movie. Of course she and Baruchel have their conflict--at one point he jizzes in his pants, and his lack of self-esteem threatens to doom the relationship. As if.

I think the moment I hated the most was when his dorky friend helps him shave his balls. Yes, you read that right. I'm not a typical guy's guy, but I would venture to speculate that this would never, ever happen, and I never want to see something like this again.

The film tries to be a gross-out comedy and also a date-film, and succeeds at neither. I would imagine women would not like this film, as the female characters are either goddesses or shrill harpies. I will give the film credit for one thing--since the characters work for TSA at the airport, it makes the thoroughly cliched "will the character get to the airport and stop the other character from leaving on a plane" scene work a little easier.