DVD: She's Out of My League

Photo: Amazon.com

(Baruchel's in a league of his own.)

Starring Jay Baruchel, Alice Eve, T.J. Miller, Krysten Ritter and Nate Torrence. Directed by Jim Field Smith. 106 minutes. 14A

It's no secret that I love Jay Baruchel (check out my glowing review of his awesome performance in The Trotsky here), but really, the dude deserves the praise. He's on one hell of a roll.

She's Out of My League was Baruchel's first big movie of the year (aside from rockin' the big screen Russian revolutionary style, he also voiced the main character in the critical, and box-office hit, How to Train your Dragon and took on the role of the sorcerer's apprentice in, well, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, which is out July 16) and although it might not be his best, it's still worth a look.

Average Joe, Kirk (Baruchel), meets a blonde bombshell named Molly (Alice Eve) at the airport (he works as security there). She forget her phone. He returns it to her at a random party. She asks him out on a date to a hockey game as a reward. They start awkwardly dating. Sounds like a sweet story, and bound for slow-motion montages set to the latest Liz Phair/Vanessa Carlton/Michelle Branch reincarnation's hit single, right? Wrong.

Sure, on the surface, She's Out of My League seems like just another meet-cute. But actually, the cute is more or less masked by some Apatowian (totally made that up) dirty jokes. There's definitely a romantic component and ending (sorry, you knew that right?) but the fun really comes from Kirk's awkwardness (dude wears the same colour jacket as the waiters at a fancy restaurant) and his obnoxious friends and family, who insist on insisting that he is not worthy of his "10" of a girlfriend. Their low-brow jabs get a bit tiring after a while, but there are some genuinely funny moments amongst the meh ones. Especially when they meet Molly's ex, hunky fighter pilot, Cam (Geoff Stults) - and basically get insta man-crushes.

There's nothing particularly ground-breaking about the rest of the movie, however. The visuals are nothing more than big-budget comedy acceptable and the story is not super original (especially in these geek-boy-friendly times). But it's got a sweet message (you don't have to be highly-rated on some subjective scale to be sexy to somebody), and some seriously quotable moments (see: anything Nate Torrence's Disney-loving character, Devon, says, or Kitty Foreman - a.k.a. Debra Jo Rupp - as Kirk's mom). Think Forgetting Sarah Marshall minus the tropical locale and crotch shots, or Knocked Up, minus the pot, and the tiny-bit-too-long ending, or well, pretty much every other Apatow movie, minus the rest of the Apatow crew. In other words, think (almost) really awesome.

Despite his slightly gangly exterior, Baruchel's Kirk really is the guy you'd want to bring home to mom and dad (well, unless you're in the middle of a hot-and-heavy makeout sesh, as he will learn the ahem, hard, way). He's kind. He's funny. And really, he's kind of cute (in that so-hot-right-now geeky dreamboat kind of way). And so is this movie, if you just give it a chance. B-

EXTRAS: Director commentary, blooper reel, deleted scenes, an alternate (or rather, extended) ending, "Devon's Dating Show" (a romance guide for guys)