Yes, it’s another hot-chick-with-schlubby-and-or-otherwise-outclassed-guy comedy, but She’s Out of My League nearly scrapes the bottom of this already familiar barrel in its quest for laughs. There’s an interesting and most likely quietly devastating movie to be made from the basic idea at this film’s core — that of an average, working-class guy who’s so convinced of his general unworthiness that he subconsciously sabotages the golden romantic opportunity that falls into his lap — but this overly broad exercise in set-piece histrionics surely isn’t it.



Despite a couple loyal friends with whom he works, Pittsburgh airport security drone Kirk (Jay Baruchel) leads a pretty numbing existence. He’s habitually tortured by his older brother Dylan (Kyle Bornheimer) and has an ex-girlfriend, Marnie (Lindsay Sloane), who’s so thick with his parents that she and her new himbo boyfriend Ron (Hayes MacArthur) constantly hang out with his family. Things change when Molly (Alice Eve), a super-hot event planner, drifts into his life, courtesy of a forgotten iPhone. Soon they’re dating, even if Kirk can neither quite explain things to his friends nor seal the deal, physically.

With his Barney Fife physicality and ably communicated set of self-negating tics, Baruchel, a bit player in Tropic Thunder and several Judd Apatow projects, is the right sort of peg on which to hang this film’s conceit. And Eve (striking in Wayne Kramer’s Crossing Over) is a rather delightful presence. But the script, by Sex Drive writers Sean Anders and John Morris, feels like nothing but a slapdash first draft; it has a few outrageous moments (all available in the film’s red-band trailer) but hits most of its capital-B beats in nervous, clamorous and cursory fashion, like a scene with a girl impressing a guy by knowing something about sports. Feature debut director Jim Field Smith’s absolutely leaden touch further sullies matters. T.J. Miller (aka Cloverfield‘s Hud) and Krysten Ritter (aka Breaking Bad‘s Jane) each eventually leave a fairly winning stamp on supporting roles, but it’s too little, too late. The script’s the thing, and She’s Out of My League is a halfheartedly executed idea that’s far less engaging than the sum of its parts. (Paramount, R, 104 minutes)