Odd couple romcom not in top division
Cinema
Daniel Carey
THERE’S a famous bar scene in ‘Roxanne’, the 1987 comedy version of ‘Cyrano de Bergerac’. Charlie (Steve Martin), the popular local fire chief, is challenged to think of 20 insults regarding his big nose. In a tour de force, he covers everything from time-keeping (“All right, Delbman, your nose was on time but YOU were 15 minutes late”) to aromas (“it must be wonderful to wake up in the morning and smell the coffee ... in Brazil”).
The ugly guy/average Joe-meets-hot girl isn’t a new thing – the play ‘Cyrano de Bergerac’ was written in 1897. It has been revisited in various guises in recent years. But as the outcome becomes more predictable – ‘Roxanne’ had a happy ending, after all – the journey needs to be more interesting than Jim Field Smith manages in ‘She’s Out Of My League’.
A key part of the success of such genre pieces rests with the script, most notably the dialogue. Judd Apatow has put together some fairly unlikely pairings (Katherine Heigl and Seth Rogen in ‘Knocked Up’, anybody?), but there are some proper laughs even in his weaker efforts. Simply put, ‘She’s Out Of My League’ just ain’t funny enough.
This is despite some pretty decent performances. Jay Baruchel has come in for quite a bit of favourable comment as the goofy Kirk. But while the leading man may have potential, his character is hard to root for. Cyrano de Bergerac had panache and Steve Martin’s Charlie was funny, but it’s not clear what Kirk is bringing to the party. He admits that he’s out of shape, uncoordinated and has never been to college, but has he any good points?
The likeable Alice Eve plays Molly, a gorgeous, bright event planner who decides to ‘play it safe’ by dating Kirk after her relationship with a stud breaks down. She leaves her phone at airport security, where Kirk works. Things develop between them despite the fact that – in the ratings laid out by his friends – she’s a ten and he’s a five.
“If someone really loves you, then you are a ten,” one of them offers, feebly. He is quickly shot down with the words “Who are you, Hannah Montana?” – one of the few laugh-out-loud lines.
More than once, we are left with a variation of the question (asked of Molly): “What are you doing with numb-nuts here?” It is, Kirk’s dad allows, ‘a fair question’.
The best scene of the movie is a conversation on the rare exceptions to the ‘like with like’ rule. King Kong and Naomi Watts, one man suggests. No, the relationship was ‘never consummated’, comes the rapid response.
There are gross-out moments worthy of ‘American Pie’ – an ‘early bird special’ that can’t be elaborated on in a family newspaper, and a personal-grooming sequence that involves two people.
But the film has heart and occasional moments of insight too. Given how useless romantic comedies have become, one that doesn’t make the viewer want to eat his or her own brain is to be welcomed.
It’s perhaps a sign of how much the flick succeeds (in its own ridiculous terms) that the inevitable ‘putting her on a pedestal’ argument seems daft – even more incredible than the fact that this odd couple has come together in the first place. And the tag-line on the poster (“When she’s this hot, you only get one shot”) may rhyme, but it’s not backed up by what happens on screen.
Measured on its own dating scale, ‘She’s Out Of My League’ is a four out of ten.
Rating 4 out of 10
