She's Out of My League

Director: Jim Field Smith
Cast: Jay Baruchel, Alice Eve, T.J. Miller and Mike Vogel
DVD release: 16 September 2010
Rated: MA 15+

In his first time in the directing chair, young Jim Field Smith (from a commercial and comedy sketch background) appears not quite at home with this feature. While having some effective scenes, it muddles along in the mid-section and is only saved by a strong Act Three. Scriptwriters Sean Anders and John Morris don’t keep their characters quite on the rails, and what at first seems a lightly sentimental romantic comedy veers suddenly towards ribald American Pie territory - not that these scenes don’t have amusing moments. There’s even a neat moral about self-esteem in the mix.

Serial loser Kirk Kettner (Jay Baruchel) works with his three doozy mates Jack (Mike Vogel) Stainer (T. J. Miller) and Devon (Nate Torrence) as security guards at the Pittsburgh airport. Kirk, low in the self esteem department having broken up with girlfriend Marnie (Lindsay Sloane), just plods along with his colleagues. Then one day, a ray of sunshine comes into his life in the form of the curvaceous show-stopping blonde Molly (Alice Eve) turning all eyes as she goes through security. On his mates’ rating scale, she’s a hot 10 and Kirk’s a modest 5; and according to their wisdom the gap is too wide.

Kirk returns a lost mobile phone to Molly, then to everyone’s amazement she rewards him with a date at a hockey match. Clearly this chic sophisticated young lady is way out of Kirk’s league, but he hopes to romance her despite his friends rudely pointing out the unsuitability of the match. Things don’t improve as Kirk introduces the vivacious Molly to his dysfunctional family from Hell.

Molly doesn’t help matters either; when being ogled by the men in Kirk’s family she happily explains she’s not wearing undergarments. Worse is yet to come. Later at Molly's place, Kirk’s in a passionate embrace with Molly resulting in his sudden release of bodily fluid just as her snooty upper class family unexpectedly arrive on the scene. Predictably the sticky romance falls apart.

Despite being puzzled as to why a hot number like Molly should be interested in him, Kirk determines to win her back, but with Molly’s hunk of an ex-boyfriend and a re-interested Marnie complicating the quest. Despite the overwhelming odds Kirk battles on regardless - even webbed toes and shaved genitals won’t stop our hero recovering his lost self-esteem and the object of his affection.

Jay Baruchel, from Tropic Thunder and the voice of Hiccup in How To Train Your Dragon, seems a good choice for the part of Kirk. Looking a weedy sort of nerd, he’s reminiscent of Stan Laurel. His acting won’t take him on the red carpet but it’s perfectly adequate. He comes across as a pleasant if gormless young geek holding the show together. Alice Eve (Stage Beauty) impresses less as the perfect girl. Having a vague likeness to Nicole Kidman, she’s a camera mugger and her Luna Park smile gets wearisome. You have the feeling she’d make a better model than an actress, with her attributes emphasised in camera angles during the first act. Eve at least fills the eye candy role well, displaying much to ogle, yet doesn’t come across as a bimbo.

T. J. Miller (Cloverfield) puts in the yards as Stainer, the lovable ratbag who saves the day, and wins a few sharp lines of dialogue. Mike Vogel, Nate Torrence, and Lindsay Sloane also provide solid backup for Baruchel. The soundtrack belts the picture along, and it’s noteworthy that the image quality is sharp and clean - the version previewed in the cinema was on digital and looks right up to the best 35 mm quality.

While not in the classic class, She's Out of My League offers reasonable entertainment value and should appeal to the target audience. Bawdy fun and games match a sentimental balance which saves the picture, and it has enough zip to keep you interested even though it’s rather a long ride.

John Bale