The early-year string of romantic comedies gets a major upgrade this week as the charming She’s Out of My League rolls into theaters. With its mix of great gags and sparkling chemistry throughout the entire cast, this movie separates itself from the usual rom-com fare, but not too far.

Check out the full review below. . .

The Players:

• Director: Jim Field Smith
• Writers: Sean Anders & John Morris
• Cast: Jay Baruchel, Alice Eve, TJ Miller, Mike Vogel, Nate Torrence, Krysten Ritter, and Kyle Bornheimer

The Plot:

Kirk (Jay Baruchel) is a dorky TSA agent whose romantic luck changes when an absolute knockout named Molly (Alice Eve) leaves her cell phone at his security checkpoint. This chance connection leads to a relationship between the two, one that threatens to be undermined by Kirk’s friend’s insistence that Molly is too good for him.

The Good:

• The Gags: The film’s main aim is go after the joke whenever it can, often forsaking plot and character development in the process.  And it works.  The gags in this film are so strong that it’s easy to ignore the circuitous route the plot takes at times so that it can set them up.  One gag in particular is so strong (and stomach-turning) that it may achieve a level of infamy on a par with the Apple Pie scene in “American Pie”.
• The Chemistry Between The Leads: So often in romantic comedies, we’re sitting in the theater wondering why these two people are together, or what anybody could possibly see in these two characters. Thankfully, that never happens in this film. The chemistry is so strong between Baruchel and Eve that they instantly seem like a couple without any suspension of disbelief required. Each character is so likable that it doesn’t take any stretch to see why one would be so smitten with the other. In fact, just about every character in this film is likable. . .
• The Supporting Cast: This film is loaded with a lot of fringe comedic talent. The type of actor that you’ve seen be funny in a number of different things, but have never quite been able to put your finger on. Each of these actors is given an excellent character to sink their teeth into in this film, be it Krysten Ritter’s delightfully cynical Patty (Molly’s best friend), Nate Torrence’s wonderfully innocent Devon (one of Kirk’s group of friends), or the outlandish bombast of Kyel Bornheimer as Nate (Kirk’s bully of a brother).  This film does not only have great comedic performances from top to bottom, but the screenwriters took great care to make each role into a complete character, rather than just mouthpieces to deliver jokes. One such performance, really stands out. . .
• TJ Miller as Stainer: There are many fine comic performances in this film, but Miller gives an incredible breakout performance.  He exhibits the rapid-fire vulgarity of Jonah Hill combined with the offbeat charm of Jason Lee.  He’s trusted with a tremendous number of laugh lines in this picture, and handles them all with aplomb.  This is a star-making performance for Miller – viewers will be quoting his lines and cracking up again for days after they see the film.

The Bad:

• The Devotion to the Gag in Lieu of Story: As mentioned above, this film is loaded with good gags, which it tends to lean on too much, forsaking plot and character development. The problem is while the film remains funny, the story simply rotates around itself from its first wrinkle until the climax. It follows the same pattern – fall in love, screw things up, reconcile, rinse, repeat – enough times that it seems as if there’s only a short film’s worth of plot stretched into a feature film. While the gags in this film are strong enough that the meandering plot doesn’t become a major issue, it is enough to keep it from becoming a truly great comedy.

Overall:

She’s Out of My League is far from a perfect film, it becomes too unfocused at times and tends to repeat the same plot points severally. Ordinarily, this would make for a mundane film, but it’s just so funny and the characters so likable, that it manages to overcome the shortcomings of its structure with ease.

Rating this movie is much like the moment early in the film where Stainer tells Kirk why he’s a five, adding and subtracting points with various reasons.  With this film, it goes down to a five based on structure and storyline, but gets two bonus points for the richness of its characters and its endless parade of solid gags.  Plus a little extra cherry for Miller’s performance.

Rating: 7.5/10

She’s Out of My League opens in wide release on March 12, 2010

Photo Gallery:

Related Posts

• Jay Baruchel in the She’s Out of My League Trailer (0)
• The Sorcerer’s Apprentice: Movie Review (1)
• Interview: Jay Baruchel for The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (2)
• Tribeca 2010: A Quick Look at the Goods (0)
• Tribeca 2010: The Trotsky (0)
• How To Train Your Dragon: Movie Review (3)
• Interview: Will Smith Talks ‘MIB III,’ Coming Back To The Screen, And Future Projects (0)

Why won’t this horrid vampire trend end? According to ScreenDaily, another romantically inclined vampire flick is headed our way and its called Vamps. It will literally be a romantic vampire comedy, like Sex and the City accept in this film they’ll actually admit that their cold blooded creatures (burn). If that wasn’t enough, the brains behind Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Clueless will be directing.

Amy Heckerling, who is one of the best female directors who’s ever done it has signed on to write and direct Vamps, a film that will be internationally distributed by Lisa Wilson’s Parlay Films. The film will be a modern-day tale of two young female vampires living the good life in New York until love enters the picture and each has to make a choice that will jeopardize their immortality. In other words, this is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.

A major casting has already taken place for the film with the announcement that Krysten Ritter will play one of the lead roles. Why is it that all these vampire actresses happen to have the same name? Ritter was last seen in Confessions Of A Shopaholic opposite Isla Fisher and Hugh Dancy.

When will the next wave of critical horror figures be found sexy so we can move on from this? With the release of The Wolf Man and New Moon maybe we’ll jump on the werewolf’s tail for a little while, and let the vampires rest. We need a break.

What do you think of Amy Heckerling taking on Vamps?

Related Posts

• News Roundup: Star Wars, Aaron Paul, House (0)
• Movie Review: She’s Out Of My League (1)
• Interview with Isla Fisher (3)

Confessions of a Shopaholic, is a chick flick. There are no two ways around it. Straight men will not walk into this theater alone. That being said, it’s great for what it is and men if you are dragged to the theater, it’s okay to laugh, it’s funny!

We were lucky enough to sit down and have a chat with Fisher (who shocked me with her thick Australian accent) and talk about her lack of shopping knowledge, leading her first big film, and much more…

What was the most fun fashion discovery you made making this film?

IF: The most fun fashion discovery was to use a lot of color in my wardrobe. I’m fairly conservative normally and I just feel like Patricia Fields brought out the color in me. I now love to wear color.

Did you work with Patricia Field on choosing the outfits?

IF: I did, Patricia was extremely collaborative. I only had one request which is that I wanted Becky to wear extremely high heels so she could totter. I think there’s nothing funnier than a comedic character tottering and the impracticality of wearing something that clearly doesn’t fit her but she’s a shopaholic so she has to have it. And Patricia really is so creative and she clearly knows what she’s talking about. She did the costumes for Sex and the City, Devil Wears Prada so I kind of let go and let her guide me and I really enjoyed the process. At the beginning, I couldn’t believe we were spending 40 minutes discussing a belt. I was so frustrated but halfway through, I just felt like I began to understand that there really is sort of a science to it and there’s this incredible world and people try really hard.

On a completely different topic, where did the fan dance come from?

The fan dance! It’s always been a comic dream of mine to attempt to seduce a man doing a dance that’s actually repulsive. So the opportunity of doing that arose during this movie and I embraced it and I really enjoyed every minute of it.

Did you do any choreography or was it all done for you?

No, no, they’re all, I’m embarrassed to admit, my own moves.

Is Hugh Dancy a good dancer?

I think Hugh’s a wonderful dancer and what I really loved about Hugh is that he came to the movie and took it seriously as if he was in a dramatic movie, which was so important. As a result, he played the greatest straight man and it gave me, playing Becky Bloomwood, somewhere to go and to be more outrageous and the comedy was grounded in reality because of him. He brought so much integrity and heart to the film and yeah, he was a fabulous dancer actually. He remembered the moves, the traditional moves, far better than me and guided me through that scene.

During the sample sale mayhem you get pretty aggressive, was that something that something you were able to improv with as well.?

IF: We had to choreograph that. With all physical comedy, you have to know where you’re going to put cameras and ensure that no one’s trampled to death so we took it fairly seriously. There were a lot of heels on a very shiny surface. But we just had a lot of fun with it and we actually went a lot further. Ultimately, we shot, we took it further but we like what we kept in the movie which is just ending on her straddling the girl, rather than pulling down a rack and being removed by a security guard.

You’ve been in a number of ensemble casts, what’s it like moving to lead of such a huge film?

IF: Yeah, obviously I’m very surprised, eternally grateful to Jerry Bruckheimer and completely bewildered as to how I was lucky enough to be chosen to head my own movie. I definitely felt far more responsible for the tone of the movie as a lead than you do as a supporting cast member where you can sort of come in and muck about. On top of that, playing a beloved character from a book that’s extraordinarily successful and knowing that she was now going to be American and wanting to just capture the essence of her as properly as I could added more pressure, but ultimately, when you have an incredible producer like Jerry Bruckheimer behind you and a really amazing cast, it was just an amazing, rewarding creative experience for me.

How was it working with working with Krysten Ritter for the first time?

IF: I remember on day one, I looked over at Krysten’s page and she’d written all these notes, like alternative lines and I’m the only actor that does that and I thought straight away that she was a soul sister, because she was already trying to improvise funny comedic stuff.

How did you develop your talent for physical comedy?

IF: Well, actually, I trained at a theater school called Jacques Lecoq in Paris where Simon McBurney who’s a very famous French clown, well he’s English actually, but where a lot of the Theatre’ Complicite troupe train. We focus on comedy dell’arte and bouffant and mime. So technically, I definitely learned the skill set but just personally, I’ve always been someone who loves to tap into their inner idiot. I’ve always been the clown of my family and I’ve always just enjoyed mucking about and I’m just fortunate that I get paid to do that now.

With the facial reactions, do you plan those, practice, or what is your process?

No, no, I just try to keep really loose and stay in the moment and not have any sort of hope for what I’m going to do. I just, I’m not a method actress but I prepare at home and then I let, I just try not to be self-conscious. I think a lot of people ask how come I got the role or I got into comedy and I just think it’s because I’m willing and a lot of actors and actresses aren’t willing to pull faces.

You’re very reminiscent of Lucille Ball.

IF: Oh, thank you. That’s a huge compliment.

Do you plan on sticking to comedies or exploring drama?

IF: You know, I have to say I love comedy. I love, just love the freedom that comedy brings but I’m open to working with any filmmakers. It’s all about the story and the character for me rather than the genre.

Were you a fan of the Shopaholic books?

I was a huge fan of the books. I read them all long before I heard about the project and when I heard about the project and that Jerry Bruckheimer was producing, obviously who I was a huge fan of, I didn’t think in my wildest dreams that I would even get a meeting, let alone get the role. I literally still cannot believe I got the role. It’s very exciting for me.

Did you do any research for Shopaholics Anonymous?

I did actually. I went to Spenders Anonymous groups and Underearners and Overspenders groups and it was fascinating. There are all different styles and types of shopping. There’s trophy shopping, image shopping, collecting, bulimic shopping. As funny as it sounds, it’s obviously also pretty sad too, but I definitely learned a lot and just that it affects men as often as women. It was a fascinating experience.

Which item of clothing can you not pass by?

IF: Oh, there’s nothing really material that I can’t pass by. Maybe underwear. Just out of necessity, just in general, underwear. It’s not such a good look, not having underwear.

Have you ever had the experience of getting a bill you didn’t expect?

IF: Actually, recently I did, apparently someone had been buying petrol in Texas on my credit card and I wasn’t there. So I did have that experience but not through any fault of my own.

Did you get to keep any of the cloths?

IF: No, I didn’t get to keep it. Maybe you should ask Jerry about that.

Do you agree with the film that shopping is better than men?

No. No. I shop rarely and poorly. I definitely appreciate men more than stores.

Who are your favorite fashion designers?

IF: Oh wow. A part of this business obviously is the pageantry of red carpet and you get dressed by incredible designers, so I’d have to say I love Stella McCartney. I love Vivian Westwood. I love Zac Pozen. I tend to go for more kind of classic. I love Prada. I feel very blessed to wear any of those dresses.

If you shop “rarely and poorly” as you put it, how do you fill your closet?

You know, I do shop when I need to and I’m fortunate in that I’ve sort of maintained my same size, except obviously when I was pregnant. So I just tend to wear stuff that I have around and when I shop I just get in and out. I have a mission and I fulfill it.

Anything in your closet you wonder why you ever bought it?

IF: Oh gosh, absolutely. I try to remove those items and give them to friends but yeah, several times I’ve been suckered into a fashion that wasn’t very flattering on a small frame.

Although this movie is about shopping, there’s also a very strong warning in it about the dangers of spending which are extremely relevant in today’s finical crisis. How do you think this movie effects the average person current spending situation?

IF: Well, obviously this movie was conceived during a different economic period and the lessons that Rebecca Bloomwood learns in the movie, we have all been learning recently. So it feels very topical. I’m really proud of the responsible way that we handle it at the end of the movie, that issue.

Confession of a Shopaholic is in theaters this Friday February 13th.

Related Posts

• Review of Confessions of a Shopaholic (1)
• Hugh Dancy Interview for Adam (0)
• New DVD Releases: The Pink Panther 2, Confessions of a Shopaholic, Waltz with Bashir (0)
• Confessions Of A Shopaholic DVD Giveaway (13)
• Interview with Jerry Bruckheimer on Shopaholic and MORE (2)
• Sundance Round-Up: 500 Days of Summer, Moon, Christopher Guest (1)
• New Pictures from Confessions of a Shopaholic (1)