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"SHE'S OUT OF MY LEAGUE"
(2010) (Jay Baruchel, Alice Eve) (R)

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QUICK TAKE:
Comedy: A young man must contend with feeling he's not worthy of or in the same league as the attractive young woman he's now dating.
PLOT:
Kirk Kettner (JAY BARUCHEL) is a young TSA employee who lives in Pittsburg, doesn't have a lot of self-esteem, and is still fixated on his ex-girlfriend, Marnie (LINDSAY SLOANE), despite them breaking up several years ago. Of course, it doesn't help that she still hangs out with his parents, Barb (DEBRA JO RUPP) and Walt (ADAM LeFEVRE), older brother Dylan (KYLE BORNHEIMER) and his condescending, pregnant girlfriend, Debbie (JESSICA ST. CLAIR), always with her boyfriend, Ron (HAYES MacARTHUR), in tow.

Kirk still wants to get back together with Marnie, something that doesn't sit well with his friends and coworkers, Stainer (T.J. MILLER), Jack (MIKE VOGEL) and Devon (NATE TORRENCE), who think he should move on. He gets that chance when event planner Molly (ALICE EVE) accidentally leaves her phone at the airport security checkpoint, and he and Devon return it to her at a reception she's set up with her business partner, Patty (KRYSTEN RITTER).

Molly is the kind of beautiful young woman who turns heads and thus would seem to be completely out of Kirk's league. Yet, she takes a liking to him, probably because he's just about the polar opposite of her last boyfriend, Cam (GEOFF STULTS), a handsome and egotistical pilot. Kirk can't believe it, which also holds true for his stunned friends, but he and Molly soon become a romantic couple. From that point on, Kirk must not only deal with that disbelief, but also the nagging notion that he's not good enough for her.

OUR TAKE: 5 out of 10
Just as people enter the world with nothing and leave it the same way, they similarly don't pay attention to what others look like when they're born, and few really care if one is attractive or not when they depart. That's especially true the closer one gets to the edges of either age group, but it's those middle years and particularly the early adolescent ones that can cause all sorts of self-esteem issues.

While some of that can stem from cross or same gender competitiveness -- where a young child realizes the attractive kid gets more attention and perks, if you will -- other moments of crisis revolve around trying to find a boyfriend or girlfriend. And with girls usually maturing earlier than boys of the same age, that usually causes the latter to feel inadequate, awkward and generally not worthy, resulting in and/or exacerbated by said females gravitating toward older, more mature and usually more confident males.

Although most everyone grows out of that, such feelings can continue into young adulthood and beyond, all of which is the premise of "She's Out of My League." In this comedy -- that easily could have come out of the Judd Apatow factory as it looks and sounds like and is pretty much constructed along the lines of "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" and others of its raunchy meets sweet and engaging ilk -- Jay Baruchel plays one such young man.

An aspiring pilot who never went to college since his parents bought a swimming pool instead, he works in what would seem to be a thankless job (TSA security line employee), isn't terribly handsome, and can't win back his ex girlfriend (Lindsay Sloane) who nevertheless hangs out with his parents -- and with her no boyfriend no less -- while being belittled by his own brother (Kyle Bornheimer) and his pregnant girlfriend (Jessica St. Clair).

To make matters worse, two of his trio of best friends and airport coworkers (T.J. Miller, Mike Vogel and Nate Torrence embodying characters straight from the Apatow supporting persona mold) state that Kirk is a 5 (out of 10) at best, and thus can't attract anyone more than a point or two above him. Thus, when he ends up meeting and returning a lost cell phone to a "hard 10" (Alive Eve looking a bit like Reese Witherspoon's sister), Kirk doesn't think it's possible she could be interested in him.

Her business partner (Krysten Ritter doing the acerbic best friend thing, yet another stereotype) shares a similar sentiment. And yet, as only usually happens in movies (or for the rich and/or famous in the real world), she ends up falling for him. But his years of built-up, low self-esteem threaten to undermine his contrived good luck and potential romantic happiness.

Working from a script by Sean Anders & John Morris, TV writer turned first-time feature length film director Jim Field Smith doesn't stray far from the "lovable loser" formula that Apatow and his disciples have now been mining for a number of years. And they make sure to throw in a number of outrageous, sex-related scenes to entertain juvenile and like-minded males.

While that might sound like an excruciating experience for those who've tired of such material - and at times it does feel too recycled - there are some genuine laugh aloud moments, fun lines of dialogue and comedic performances.

As the lead, Baruchel could certainly be playing a younger version of Steve Carell's character from "40-Year-Old Virgin," and he imbues the role with enough charm and self-effacing humor that you can't help but like and root for him.

Playing opposite him, Eve is a decent find and delivers a performance that could lead to her becoming the go-to actress for future rom-coms. Other performances are decent even if most of the characters are fairly pigeonholed in their set of attributes and behaviors.

Despite retreading the quite familiar tactic of mixing raunch with some sweetness and bits of depth - and thus feeling a bit like it's out of its league in comparison to the best output of the Apatow comedy factor - "She's Out of My League" offers enough laughs (genuine and adolescent-minded) to be classified as a decently entertaining offering. It rates as a 5 out of 10.




Reviewed March 4, 2010 / Posted March 12, 2010


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