DVD Reviews

She's Out of My League - Blu-ray Review

By Frankie Dees Jun 28, 2010, 18:24 GMT

In this outrageous comedy, Kirk (Jay Baruchel, “Knocked Up”, “Tropic Thunder”), an average guy, can’t believe his luck when the successful and gorgeous babe Molly (Alice Eve, “Sex and the City 2”) falls for him. His smart-ass friends, his crazy family, and even his obnoxious ex-girlfriend are just as shocked as he is. Now, see what the critics are calling a “rowdy blast”* as Kirk goes to great lengths - ...more

A decidedly clunky amalgam of an 80s teen-com concept, nerd gets the girl of his dreams, and the more in vogue R-rated lewdness of pics like ‘The Hangover’, ‘She’s Out of My League’ never really succeeds at either,, but teen auds will probably respond more favorably.

The biggest problem with the pic is that there are quite a few good ideas that the writers never quite capitalize on as well as they should. The first good idea is having our protag, the genial but desperately insecure Kirk (Jay Baruchel), work for TSA airport security along with his requisite band of goofball friends. If there’s any locale more ripe for frustrated laughs, it’s airport security, but not much is made of this scenario.

So hottie “ten” passenger Molly (Alice Eve) comes strolling through security where all of Kirk’s more Neanderthal co-workers and friends ogle and harass with Kirk, apparently being the only nice guy, escorting her through with a shred of decency. Molly recognizes his nice-guyness and when he returns her cell phone left at security, she sets up a quasi-date.

Kirk’s more insensitive friends led by Stainer (T.J. Miller) call him crazy for even trying. She’s a ten and he’s only a five, you see. And you can’t jump more than two points on the hotness scale! (Oddly, I remember this exact same joke from the one episode of Matt LeBlanc’s failed ‘Joey’ sitcom that I could sit through years ago – guess the writers saw that ep too?).

And Kirk’s insecurities are at an all-time high as he was just dumped by his g.f Marnie (Lindsay Sloane) who to add insult to injury still hangs out with his family with her new boyfriend. Talk about feeling rejected.

Molly’s motivations seem to be that she’s looking for someone safe after a disastrous relationship with a hotshot pilot. But she means well and starts to really fall for Kirk despite her best pal Patty’s (Krysten Ritter) incredulity at the match made in bizarro heaven.

Of course, the main dramatic thrust of the movie is that if everybody would just shut the hell up, these two could make a charming couple. But Kirk is being constantly assaulted as not being good enough and self-doubt will kill any relationship as quickly as the discovery of a third nipple.

So, yeah, nothing new but the two leads is charismatic enough to make it work if the movie surrounding them was better.

Baruchel, who stood out in ensembles like ‘Knocked Up’ and ‘Tropic Thunder’ makes an easy transition to leading man here and is tailor-fit for this type of role – a guy who you could believe would be attractive to women on pure self-deprecating humor and genuine niceness. Alice Eve as Molly is new to me but carries herself well and does indeed look great in her underwear.

Supporting players are more troublesome and really where the movie fails for me as everybody is your typical underwritten goons with nary a funny or believable thing to say.

Kirk’s family and ex-g.f is a particularly loathsome bunch and by the time they all end up in matching ‘Going to Branson’ sweatshirts, I was ready to rid myself of their presence by simply turning the movie off. I realize that obnoxiousness was the filmmaker’s intent but, man, there needed to be more of a fine line there.

The Blu-ray is presented with a 1080p AVC 2.35 encode that looks relatively sharp. Nice detail and color range makes a summertime Pittsburg actually look inviting. The DTS-HD 5.1 track is equally competent and while this film doesn’t necessarily scream for a high-def presentation, I’m finding it harder and harder to watch any film no matter how mundane visually i.e. comedies in standard-def.

Special features start off with an audio commentary from director Jim Field that’s mostly ho-hum - a few interesting production anecdotes but probably not worth sitting through the whole movie for.

‘Devon’s Dating Show’ is a kind of funny spoof with two of the movie’s characters, Devon and Dylan, dispatching conflicting dating advice. A ‘Blooper Reel’ and four ‘Deleted Scenes’ round things out.

If the film had focused more on the sweet than the salty, ‘She’s Out Of My League’ may have been more effective for me, a modern ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’ if you will.

But when, say, Kirk gets his testicles shaven by a friend for no apparent reason other than the writers saw ‘American Wedding’, most of the good will generated by the leads gets thrown out the window.

There are a few mild laughs and one could do worse on a low-expectation night in so take that for what it’s worth.