Written by: Sean Anders & John Morris
Starring: Jay Baruchel, Alice Eve, T.J. Miller, Mike Vogel, Nate Torrence, Krysten Ritter
Rating: [2/5]
Despite all of the supposed objective rating scales touted in certain circles, measuring attraction remains highly subjective and very much depends on the person. Despite that, we always see those couples, particularly heterosexual ones, where an imbalance in attraction on the surface stands out to the point where others cannot help themselves but comment. That remains the running joke in She’s Out of My League where it begs the question of what this girl sees in that guy and the film does not really supply a substantive answer.
Always awkward in his demeanor, Kirk (Jay Baruchel) helps the beautiful Molly (Alice Eve) recover her phone and it sparks something between them. Molly shows an interest with Kirk and they begin to date, much to the shock of everyone around them, including Kirk himself. However, Kirk feels incredibly insecure about his place by her side.
Whether seeing this in real life or among celebrity pairings, we all formulate our opinions on what makes a well-matched couple when it comes to looks. Biases will prevail where some may think Kirk and Molly are equals in the looks department, albeit those individuals would lie in the minority. I firmly sit in the majority, and therefore the major question at the center of this film is what Molly sees in Kirk. When looking at her previous boyfriends, Kirk does not match up to them physically, nor does he have much confidence about him. It leaves the tried and true reason of him being a nice guy as the only remaining answer, and this film barely does a good job in displaying that.
While this feature seeks to display a lopsided relationship physically but something internally, the film does this by trying to play up the awkwardness of its lead while paying dust to Molly. A pivotal moment in this film arrives where Molly hates how she’s seen as perfection by all around her and detests being put on a pedestal. Something quite meaningful if not for the fact she suffers this very treatment by the film as well. She receives absolutely no depth in her character and has to operate this whole venture as someone lauded for her looks but given nothing to work with. Therefore, we should receive something really intriguing with Kirk as a character if Molly gets completely shafted in this story, and it even failed at that.
Kirk represents the modus operandi for Jay Baruchel where he portrays an awkward geek who always happens to get the girl. Certainly a typecast for him and through this character he fails to make him anything other than a clumsy dude who cannot understand why this beautiful woman would possibly want to date him. Ultimately, insecurity in himself causes the main issues in the film to transpire, and Baruchel’s act here just never does the necessary heavy lifting in order to make this film even remotely successful.
Starting out in a fairly cute manner in the way these two initially hit it off, as their relationship begins to get more serious, it just further sinks in quality leading up to a horrendous final 20 minutes. A final section of the film that devolves any goodwill remaining with these characters and the circumstance overall. It also portrays a distinct nastiness of this story towards the women in the story that makes it obvious two dudes wrote the screenplay and directed the feature. Especially as things evolve with Kirk’s ex-girlfriend, Marnie (Lindsay Sloane), it begins to raise some red flags about how this story truly feels about women in general. A realization that further explains why Molly and every other woman in this film gets woefully underwritten.
Ultimately, a film with a positive message about looks not being everything but plainly surface level in its approach and a lacking attempt at showing that what’s underneath ultimately rules all. She’s Out of My League never quite presents anything substantive nor all that funny with its bottom of the barrel jokes, as it presents a circumstance we can all recognize. Alice Eve tries her very best in such a limited role but everything else around her, including Jay Baruchel, comes crumbling down in this shallow romantic comedy.
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