She’s Out Of My League

By Kristen Callihan and Anna Swindle  |  March 12, 2010 | 1:54pm
Movies Reviews
She’s Out Of My League

Release Date: March 12
Director: Jim Field Smith
Writer: Sean Anders and John Morris
Cinematographer: Jim Denault
Starring: Jay Baruchel, Alice Eve, T.J. Miller, Krysten Ritter
Studio/Runtime: Dreamworks, 104 mins.

Fresh takes on stale storyline add up to slightly above average comedy

If there ever was a movie to deserve a rating, She’s Out Of My League is the one. After all, the whole premise revolves around the theme of a rating system—and, no matter how he calculates it, Kirk (Jay Baruchel) keeps coming up short.

Kirk lives at home and works as a lowly airport security officer, his wrinkled uniform only emphasizing his scrawny physique. He spends all his time with either the same guys he’s known since childhood or his snotty ex-girlfriend and her new chip-stealing boyfriend. All this adds up to one, middle-of-the-road conclusion: Kirk is a hard five.

Molly is a successful event planner. She’s smart, beautiful (ridiculously beautiful, in fact) and wealthy, exhibiting nary a flaw. This puts her in a whole different class than Kirk: Molly is a hard 10.

Throughout the movie, Kirk’s friends remind him that there’s a set of rules to go along with the rating system. (“That five-point disparity—that’s a chasm,” pal Stainer says.) So we’ve decided to follow the rules and judge the movie on a similar scale of pros and cons:

It’s a storyline we’ve seen played out time and time again: Unattractive guy leading loser lifestyle somehow gets the gorgeous babe who’s got her life together. (Subtract 12)

The music is absurdly predictable, featuring songs like the ‘90s single “She’s So High Above Me” by Tal Bachman and The Fray’s inescapable Top 40 hit “Over My Head (Cable Car).” (Subtract 14)

Despite the somewhat tired storyline, the motley crew of characters that make up Kirk and Molly’s friends and families always have a hilarious quip to add to the mix, whether intentional or not. (Add 7)

It’s refreshing to see a movie like this that isn’t starring Seth Rogan, Paul Rudd or Jonah Hill. (Add 5)

Do we really have to endure another supposed-to-be-believable on-screen friendship between a bubbly, optimistic blonde and a perpetually pissed off brunette? (Subtract 6)

The eclectic cast is peppered with blasts from sitcoms past, including Kitty from That 70’s Show (Debra Jo Rupp), Valerie from Sabrina, the Teenage Witch (Lindsay Sloane) and Ben from 7th Heaven (Geoff Stults). (We know, this could go either way. In this case it was a plus.) (Add 1)

If you’re not too enthused to see this movie in theaters, you might want to reconsider. True, it won’t be picking up any Oscars this time next year, but you’ll laugh enough to not worry about losing two hours and $10. (Add 3)

While the few scenes of gross-out humor were funny to watch, they were also just as hilarious the first 18 times we saw them in other flicks (and they still remain most amusing to 14-year-old boys). (Subtract 7)

Most of the movie’s fresh humor comes from peripheral characters like Kirk’s chubby friend Devon’s musings on life and love (“You know what this reminds me of? The moment Aladdin met Princess Jasmine.”) and his bullying brother Dylan (“I know how to make any car into a convertible in 15 minutes.”). (Add 3)

Even though the film had us laughing and exceeded our expectations, the end result was (spoiler alert!) yet another unrealistic win for the underdog. (Subtract 12)

Final Score: She’s Out Of My League is a hard 68. It might not be a life-changing film, but it features fresh humor and a delightful cast.

 
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