Movie Review: She's Out of My League

by Justin Velasquez

March 31, 2010

So, what's your number?  According to the new comedy, She's Out of My League, everyone is assigned a number to reflect their beauty - or lack thereof. 

Kirk Kettner's (Jay Baruchel, Tropic Thunder) buddies deem him only a five, a number assigned to the average guy.  At first glance Kirk is just that but early on he seems much lower than the aforementioned five.  He works for the TSA at the airport in Pittsburgh, not a bad gig.  His confidence and self-esteem are very low; witness to his prideless efforts to crawl back to his former girlfriend, Marnie (Lindsay Sloane, The Wonder Years).  Marnie, a favorite of Kirk's parents, still hangs out with them, and often brings along her new boyfriend.  The disrespect continues through Kirk's brother, Dylan (Kyle Bornheimer), who routinely mocks him as if they're still in junior high.

Enter Molly McCleish (Alice Eve, the upcoming Sex and the City 2), a "hard 10."  She's everything that a guy would dream about in a woman: beautiful, intelligent, successful and seemingly easy to get along with.  And to top it off, Molly is a sports fan.  As mentioned, she is every man's dream. 

Molly and Kirk's lives cross paths when she forgets her iPhone in the security area.  She calls it to find Kirk answering on the other end, and their relationship begins.  Upon getting her phone back Molly is nice enough to invite Kirk out to a Pittsburgh Penguins hockey match.  Kirk brings along his best friend, Stainer (T.J. Miller, Cloverfield), on what looks to be a double date.  Kirk believes he has no shot at being with Molly, but much to his surprise Molly's friend, Patty (Krysten Ritter, Confessions of a Shopaholic), brazenly admits to Kirk that Molly likes him.  What follows are some often hilarious scenes and some rather moving experiences that are somewhat far fetched, yet eerily believable.

At first glance this clearly looks to be a mismatch, but its both individuals have more to offer each other than physical appearances.  As the film unfolds it's also clear that Kirk and Molly have their own hang-ups.  Kirk is still stunned that someone as beautiful as Molly would even consider him and in an effort to place himself on the same plane as her he looks to find flaws.  Plus his shame and embarrassment towards his family is evident as he would rather prefer that she doesn't meet them.  Of course she comes over to his parents' place and instead of fleeing in horror Molly embraces the unique family dynamic.  What helps things along is Kirk's personality - he's simply a nice guy and provides Molly with the some much-needed respect and courtesy.

Molly, on the other hand, is a woman who's been scorned.  Her looks and personality are somewhat balanced out by her poor taste in men and her all-too-trusting demeanor.  Molly sees Kirk as somewhat of a pushover who probably won't be able to hurt her feelings or break her heart.  She, though, is very good about keeping her true feelings to herself and doesn't bring the mood down.  Molly's vibrant and easy to talk to and every bit as nice as Kirk.  As the two continue to see each other their underlying notions make way for true feelings, feelings that are vulnerable and easy to hurt.

She's out of My League is not an instant classic but it is a film that is earnest and sincere in the midst of some pretty good laughs.  Directed by Jim Field Smith and written for the screen by Sean Anders and John Morris (both also co-wrote Hot Tub Time Machine), League features the now prerequisite gags of the sexual variety and fairly explicit in condor.  It's nothing too offensive and by comparison is tamer than Hot Tub, but honestly the jokes seem funnier here and the "joke ratio" is more frequent than that of Hot Tub.  League is more of a romantic comedy so not every joke or gag is aimed to be a home run.  Regardless, this is an enjoyable film and seemingly gives hope to all those fives out there looking to find a 10.

Three Stars out of Four