Tired jokes fall flat in romantic comedy She’s Out Of My League

Rookie director Jim Field Smith and lead Jay Baruchel are out of their comedic leagues in middling movie lacking any personality

She’s Out of My League

Directed by Jim Field Smith
Starring Jay Baruchel, Alice Eve, Krysten Ritter, Mike Vogel, and Nate Torrence
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Have you ever had one of those painfully unfunny friends who are always quick to spout one-liners from all of their favourite TV shows or films? They usually know how to tell the jokes — they’ve told them thousands of times before — but any charm they originally had has been pummelled into oblivion, and you're left questioning the people you associate with. That’s roughly analogous to how I felt watching She’s Out of My League haphazardly re-enact every played-out, Judd-Apatow-style joke in the book, only with less style, less humour, and with no emotional impact whatsoever.

She’s Out of My League tells a story that most movie-goers should be familiar with by now: Kirk Kettner (Jay Baruchel) is some dude with a nothing job, no future, and a bitch for an ex-girlfriend (Lindsay Sloane). He laments his existence until he finds a lost cell phone belonging to a sexy lady, Molly (Alice Eve), who invites him to a party, then a hockey game double-date, and, eventually, a classy restaurant for an intimate one-on-one dinner, which is, of course, interrupted by her hunky ex-boyfriend who isn't convinced that his chances with Molly are over just yet.

But why would a gorgeous gal date a guy who looks like Jay Baruchel, you might be wondering? That’s the question on literally every character's mind, dominating the entirety of the film to a nauseating degree. After all, Molly’s a “hard 10” while Kirk’s barely a five. Everyone knows that anything more than a two-point jump should be treated with unrelenting suspicion, and plenty of awkward, and veiled interrogation scenes that ultimately trigger more groans than laughs.

While not classically terrible like some films, She’s Out of My League fails to succeed in almost every conceivable way. Director Jim Field Smith, whose previous credits are limited to three UK short films, is apparently Leagues' biggest liability. While the jokes are frequently borderline humourous, they completely dominate every scene, often at the expense of story, which is so unoriginal and worthless that you can hardly blame the director for trying to instill some reason to keep viewers even mildly distracted, even if it usually only makes things worse, rather than better.

The characters aren’t much better — the most interesting of them are the ones who appear on the screen least. Baruchel has no quirks or distinctive traits about him, and his only thoughts seem to dwell exclusively on the girl he believes he is not good enough to be dating. She proves herself to be completely devoid of any kind of personality at all as well. It's the perfect match essentially, which is what makes the film largely without conflict, another inexcusable misstep.

The terminal problem stems from the film’s desire to market itself as a comedy about an average-looking guy dating a hot girl, and really nothing more. Watching the trailer for the film is a far more satisfying experience because it sums things up in three minutes as opposed to an hour and a half.

With characters so lifeless and a story so inconsequential, She’s Out of My League feels like an almost greater failure for actually attempting to be good. It tries to be funny, and sometimes it is, but the moments that it works are far too infrequent for a film with no emotional payoff. Much like a hot girl who finds herself dating a lanky dork just because he has a great personality, I’m left wondering why I should bother watching a terrible film with no personality at all.