By Robert Rossi, Assoc. Culture Editor -

Have you ever seen American Pie? Yes? Then you’ve also seen at least a third of She’s Out Of My League, the feature-length directorial debut of Jim Field Smith. Like American Pie, most of the film’s cast members will neither be household names nor recognizable faces to most audiences. The writers, likewise, lack much star power (unless you stayed through the credits of Sex Drive, you’ve probably never heard of Sean Anders or John Morris). The key difference between She’s Out Of My League and American Pie is that the former is, well, not that funny.

She’s Out Of My League centers on Kirk Kettner (Jay Baruchel), a security guard at Pittsburgh International Airport (why Pittsburgh? It’s cheap to film there). As you could probably deduce from the film’s trailer, poster, or even title, Kirk is not cool, smart, or attractive. He’s awkward, timid, and scrawny; he’s basically Jim from American Pie. He broke up with his girlfriend two years before the film’s start, but still wants to get back together with her. She treats him like crap, but he tells his friends that he “doesn’t think there’s anything better out there.” Of course, his outlook does a 180 when he meets a “10” at a security gate at the airport, and she inexplicably takes an interest in him.

The audience is supposed to think that Molly McCall (Alice Eve) is the perfect woman. She’s sexy, she’s smart, she’s nice to everybody, and she makes a ton of money. The characters all think so. After Kirk and Molly meet, scenes basically alternate between the couple’s dates and Kirk sitting around with his friends listening to them explain why she’s too hot for him. But this plot structure tanks the film for a whole load of reasons.

First of all, Molly lacks any sort of personality whatsoever. I don’t care how hot she is. I was not attracted to her because she is one of the most boring people I’ve encountered on the screen or in real life. Which brings me to the next problem with the movie: its attitude towards women. Whenever Molly enters a room, all the male characters lose self-control. Half the film’s jokes are simply guys’ reactions to her looks. Multiple times, the men in relationships even go as far as to insult their own wives or girlfriends, right in front of them, when comparing their looks to Molly’s. The guys all tell Kirk that he can’t ever let his relationship with Molly die, but only because she’s so much hotter than any other girl he could ever get. Sure, the film tries to tell the audience to love somebody for who they are, not what they look like. But the message is only aimed at girls.  The film seems to say that guys should go for the hottest girl they can get, regardless of personality (or lack thereof).

She’s Out Of My League fails because it is a chick flick that you would never bring a girl to. She’ll think you’re only interested in her because of how she looks, and maybe even start projecting some type of self-esteem issues onto you that you don’t have. Also, besides Burachel (who has proven his worth as an actor in Million Dollar Baby and as a comedian in Knocked Up and Tropic Thunder), none of the actors or their characters is very funny or likeable. Special recognition goes to Stainer (TJ Miller), who is some sort of terrible, obnoxious mix of Will Ferrell and Stifler, and Patty (Krysten Ritter) who I guess is supposed to be funny because she is very angry and curses a lot even though she is a woman. Her best line is when she tells someone to leave some feces in her hand, only instead of saying “leave some feces,” get this, she uses a four-letter word that starts with “s.”  That’s about as clever as this movie gets.

There is a scene in She’s Out Of My League where Kirk and Molly are getting a bit intimate, but Kirk gets a bit too excited and the fun ends prematurely. His friends rip on him about it for the next ten minutes of the film. What the filmmakers don’t quite understand is that when you use a cliched joke, you have to make it funnier and more elaborate in order for it to be justified. I don’t want to say that this movie was neither funny nor elaborate, because I did laugh out loud exactly one time. The film cuts from the end of one scene (I won’t say which or it would ruin the surprise) to Kirk spilling coffee on his shirt and reacting only with a halfhearted “Goddamnit!” I was caught so off guard that I couldn’t help but laugh. If Smith, Anders, and Morris understood that unpredictability is key for humor, they would have made a genuinely funny film. Unfortunately, they did not, and when the credits rolled, I could not help but feel the same disappointment as Kirk with his spilled coffee. This movie could have been something good, but instead it was just a waste. 4.0/10

By Karen Kovaka, Gavel Columnist -

“I see you.”

That’s my favorite line from Avatar. Sure, as I think about it now, a couple weeks after seeing the movie, it seems a little corny.

But more important than my retrospective analysis is my first reaction to “I see you” — the reaction I had while I was still immersed in the reality created by Avatar.

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