She's out of My League

She’s Out of My League – 2010

**½ Out of ****

She’s out of My League is the type of film that seems to suffer from a crisis of identity; is it a romantic comedy or an Apatow-esque combination of raunch and insight? Jay Baruchel’s first starring vehicle tries to have its cake and have sex with it too, and winds up splitting its resources to less effective result.

Frankly put, She’s out of My League is not funny. There is the scattered chuckle and a few moments worthy of a laugh but for the most part the narrative just hums along; never becoming outwardly awful nor achieving anything memorable. The films saving grace is the chemistry between Jay Baruchel and Alice Eve which at times is so strong it almost makes the movie worth seeing in spite of itself. If SooML had concentrated on the romantic efforts, I feel like something excellent could have sprung forth, but with its scattershot approach we have only the leads on which to lean.

Perhaps the most refreshing thing about League is that Eve’s Molly is actually a nice person. She is not manipulative, hot-but bitchy or using our nerdy hero for her own purposes. Usually in a movie like this we have the girl-best friend who unbeknownst to our swooning protagonist holds a flame, and after the hottie eventually betrays him, he finds love has been beside him all along, etc, etc. We don’t have this here; there are now competing forces for Kirk’s affections and the film and the audience win because of it.

There is a lame ongoing gag where our leads are rated; Kirk is a ‘5’ and whatever number you receive, the laws of nature inhibit you from deviating more than 2 ‘points’ in either direction. Enter Molly, a hard ‘10’ and after leaving her cell phone at the airport where our geeky Romeo is employed she becomes somewhat smitten (feelings which he immediately returns) to the astonishment of his friends who can’t believe his luck. From there we get our normal rom-com story arch which as I stated is heavily bolstered by amazing chemistry and performances from the star-crossed lovers.

Also like many movies of this ilk, the friends of the leads are jerks/bitches who more than once, accidentally or intentionally pull Kirk and Molly apart. I don’t understand this resurfacing convention but it grows more distasteful with every film. Thankfully some of these characters undergo an epiphany so they do not remain totally repulsive characters. She’s out of My League is unimposing and sweet, and is not above a watch on a date night or rainy Sunday but it certainly nothing to rush out to see in theatres.