Let’s start with this- ¬†Jay Baruchel is what we would get if Michael Cera and Christian Slater fucked and had a kid.¬† He‚Äôs got the awkwardness of MC; that similar brand of comic timing that incorporates weird pauses and half-mumbling. ¬†He also sounds almost exactly like Christian Slater. I mean, it‚Äôs seriously scary.¬† It goes a little deeper than that too, because Christian Slater sounds like he‚Äôs doing an impression of a younger Jack Nicholson half the time.¬† So I guess that actually makes Jay Baruchel a product of a Jack Nicholson, Christian Slater, and Michael Cera three-way.¬† This is, of course, assuming one or all of them have the necessary reproductive requirements to produce such a thing as a Jay Baruchel.
Half-cocked actor-mating theories aside,  I have to disclose that I consider myself a fan of Jay Baruchel.  In fact, he’s really the only reason I paid full price to see this movie.   He sort of snuck up on Hollywood as a leading man, didn’t he? He’s been a peripheral character in quite a few movies, then he gets a bump up in Tropic Thunder and now BAM he’s a leading man in his own rom com.  I think it’s deserved as he’s a pretty charming guy and he’s no doubt got great comedic timing.  Enough of me gushing about the guy, let’s get on to the film itself.
You can go ahead and throw the story out on this one as you’ve seen it before and frankly, I’m getting really tired of the current formula.  Kirk (Baruchel) is an airport security employee.  He’s been desperately trying to win back his asshole girlfriend Marnie for 2 years, and he is absolutely pathetic.   A chance encounter at airport security with event planner Molly (Alice Eve), is what kick starts the movie.  Molly is the hottest girl he’s ever seen.  I had a chub, I won’t lie.  She leaves her iPhone at the checkpoint by accident and Kirk returns it to her and the two of them eventually start dating.   What follows is a lot of friends being terrible relationship advisors, which picks away at the pairing of the two, leaving Kirk feeling inadequate all of the time.
There’s the setup and basically the entire story in a nutshell.  Really it’s just about setting up gags and different crude dialogue between some of the characters, and arguably that’s what these R rated rom coms are sort of about, right?  I can’t be terribly hard on this movie because it is so harmless and is certainly funny at times.  However, in a post-Hangover comedy landscape, this shit just doesn’t do it for me anymore.  The Hangover really ruined a lot of movie comedy for me because it was so perfect, looked so good, and was just executed amazingly well.  All things since have really had to work hard in order to crack me open and make me laugh like an idiot.  She’s Out of My League does this in a few of the scenes for sure, but it’s so painfully inconsistent and just outright bland in parts that I can’t totally forgive that.
Kirk’s cast of friends are indeed funny at times, including one portly fellow who is obsessed with drawing comparisons to early 90s Disney cartoon fairy tales.   The others are sort of forgettable outside of Stainer (TJ Miller) who plays the matchmaker and is the primary caretaker of bad advice central.   Alice Eve as Molly is appropriately smoking hot as well as a fun contrast to Baruchel’s awkwardness.  If there are scenes to steal though, they were definitely hijacked by Kirk’s brother Dylan, played by Kyle Bornheimer.  I became somewhat of a fan of that dude after watching the completely over-the-top TV series Worst Week on the Netflix Instant Queue.   For the record, that show is completely ridiculous and unbelievable but also totally entertaining.  Alright, enough of me plugging Kyle Bornheimer.
A scene involving a first go at modern manscaping is pretty damn hilarious and is also completely ruined in that red band trailer I talked about earlier.  If you plan on checking this out, I implore you to stay away from that trailer.  There’s also a really great scene on an airplane involving an awesome monologue/meltdown by Kirk which had me rolling.  I don’t really want to go further on what was actually funny because as I said, when it’s on, it’s definitely on.  Sadly though the rest of it just falls completely flat and struggles to find its footing half the time.
I‚Äôm getting a bit long-winded and redundant here, so to boil it down, this movie is a rental.¬† If you‚Äôre a Jay Baruchel fan, then I suppose I can authorize a theatrical viewing, but don‚Äôt say I didn‚Äôt warn you.¬† The movie is weighed down by its inconsistencies and a somewhat unimaginative interpretation of the script.¬† I’m sure most this stuff was probably a lot funnier on paper, but fleshed out it doesn’t play as well. ¬†The movie also looks uninspired and at times would look better if filmed with my nuts. ¬†In a world where a comedy like The Hangover exists, there are just no more excuses for lazy direction and execution. ¬†If you hate Jay Baruchel, then stay away from this forever.¬† It will kill you.
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