"She's Out of My League" Movie Review (2010)

Movie Review

"She's Out of My League"

Directed by Jim Field Smith, Written by Sean Anders and John Morris, 104 minutes, Rated R

By our guest blogger, Rob Stammitti

"She's Out of My League" is an interesting specimen. It's not particularly funny, it runs a bit long, and it certainly uses its fair share of cliches, but it somehow manages to be charming and likable for most of its runtime. Perhaps it's Jay Baruchel, finally graduating from the school of Judd Apatow supporting players and making his way into lead roles, both with this and the upcoming "The Sorcerer's Apprentice." He's not a great actor--that much is clear from the more serious moments in this film--but he is a likable one, and that goes a long way.

Baruchel plays Kirk, an airport TSA officer (the guys at security, basically) who is just coming out of a tough relationship when he meets Molly (Alice Eve), a party planner who just happens to meet him when she accidentally loses her phone before a flight. The big dilemma is this--well, she's out of his league. As Kirk's friends put it, she's a 10, and he's a 5. You can't jump more than two points. This becomes a pretty big source of conflict as Kirk's inadequacies and Molly's desires to just have a boyfriend who she cares about despite a lack of job prospects and him not being maddeningly handsome. Kirk also has to deal with problems stemming from his family--his parents adore his ex-girlfriend and constantly have her and her new boyfriend around, and Kirk's brother obnoxiously slights him every chance he gets.

The plot pretty much goes where you'd expect (and you know since Kirk works as a TSA officer that there will definitely be a huge cliched climax at the airport), and a lot of the humor falls flat, but thanks to Baruchel's charm and the decent supporting cast, it's a relatively enjoyable film.

The cast is easily the best part of the film, with Baruchel and Eve proving to have great chemistry and charisma and the supporting cast, consisting almost entirely of relative newcomers or otherwise underutilized talent, adding a great deal of personality to the proceedings. TJ Miller, probably best known for his small role as Hud in "Cloverfield," plays Kirk's best friend Stainer, and he ends up being the source of most of the film's funniest moments. Kyle Bornheimer is also occasionally amusing as Kirk's blowhard brother.

Modern comedies like this are extremely refreshing in that the relationship between the two main characters is actually based on realistic expectations instead of "well, here are two incredibly attractive people, let's put them together." Judd Apatow did it with "Knocked Up" (albeit in a far less realistic way) and it's done again here, and the romance is easily the best aspect of the film. The idea that a person should be judged on their character is obviously an admirable one, it just didn't happen to be too popular a concept in Hollywood until recently.

It's not an outrageously entertaining film, but "She's Out of My League" is a decent way to spend two hours or so and it's pretty clear Baruchel has potential as a leading man--just not out of his comedic realm.

Grade: C

View the trailer for "She's Out of My League" below. What are your thoughts?