Review of She's Out of My League (2010) by Kenneth L — 22 Jul 2011

This is a thoroughly formulaic romantic comedy that rises above the rest of its pack a bit thanks to good performances and some funny gags. It's in the same vein as all those Judd Apatow-and-company movies, such as Knocked Up and The 40-Year-Old Virgin, and while it's not quite as funny or memorable as those movies, it's still pretty decent.

The story is pretty much summed up by the title: an unlikely romantic relationship starts between a dorky little guy and a woman who is thoroughly out of his league. The movie distinguishes itself a bit by characterizing the guy pretty well, and surrounding him with colorful supporting characters, including his goofy friends and mean family. You can see just about every turn the movie is going to take coming a mile away, but it's at least enthusiastic about it. The climax in particular is contrived and ridiculous, but also kind of sweet.

I really liked Jay Baruchel here as the twerpy little guy. He was clearly born to play this sort of role, and probably will always get cast as this sort of character. Like Woody Allen, he can really play only one character, but he's so good at that one character. He's very appealing and sympathetic. Alice Eve is very pretty and very likable in her role. Among the supporting cast, T.J. Miller and Nate Torrence are both fairly funny.

The movie does go for a couple of gross-out gags, and they work reasonably well, but for the most part the movie plays it fairly safe. The direction and all that are what you would expect for a mainstream romantic comedy like this. The movie is overall funny and friendly, but it doesn't break free of genre conventions at all and won't be talked about much. Hopefully it helps Jay Baruchel become more famous, though.