She's Out of My League

This was pretty interesting, and I apologize ahead of time because this movie may be getting a bit of a bump in grade due to it being filmed in Pittsburgh.

She's Out of My League was a pretty good film. I have been pretty adamant that I didn't feel Jay Baruchel could carry a film on his own - and well he technically didn't, but he was the lead - but I have to say he proved me wrong with this showing.

Baruchel plays Kirk, an average guy who works at the airport, but is pretty much the brunt of everyone's jokes (friends and family). His girlfriend, Marnie (Lindsay Sloane), even leaves him for another guy, but still does everything with his family.

Kirk also has a handful of buddies that work at the airport with him, Stainer (T.J. Miller), Jack (Mike Vogel) and Devon (Nate Torrence). They have the typical relationships as friends, always bagging on each other, but also having each others backs.

Miller was a standout to me. I really enjoyed him in the shortlived comedy Carpoolers as Marmaduke - and he continues to shine here.

One day a beautiful girl named Molly (Alice Eve) jumps on a plane and leaves her cell phone behind. Kirk is lucky enough to find it and gets to meet Molly at a museum function to return the phone.

Molly (at least to the guys) is considered a 10 on the hotness scale, while Kirk is a midlevel 5. Molly is also used to dating pretty good looking guys - but for some reason begins falling for Kirk.

Stainer explains that it will never work because you can't jump anymore than 2-spots in the hotness factor (meaning a 10 can only go as low as an 8).

So, Kirk is not only nervous as hell to be dating this gorgeous woman, he is now in his head that there is no reason she should be dating him.

I really enjoyed this film - it was funny and sweet all at the same time.

The Pittsburgh influence was also great as I saw a ton of Pittsburgh-centric stuff from my old stomping grounds.

Grade:

Random Netflix Movie #2: I'm Reed Fish

I ventured into Netflix again today, and watched another random movie, so here is my second entry in the Random Netflix Movie journal.

I'm Reed Fish is a movie with a lot of recognizable names in its cast. The main character Reed Fish is played by Jay Baruchel (Knocked Up). Kate is played by Alexis Bledel (Gilmore Girls), Schuyler Fish (Orange County) plays Jill, Katey Sagal (Married With Children) is Maureen, and for the second Random Netflix Movie in a row, D.J. Qualls (The Core) plays Andrew.

I know what you're thinking, I have some fetish about D.J. Qualls, but honest to God I had no idea he was in this movie, nor the one I watched before. Just proved to be coincidence.

OK, on to the movie. Well, I'm Reed Fish is a pretty odd tale. There is a pretty random twist which you find out right away, that the story being told is, in fact, a story. Reed Fish made a movie about his life, and is showing it to the town in which it took place. So this is a movie within a movie (do ya understand?).

Anyway, Reed is from a very small town and is the local radio personality, along with Mayor Maureen (Sagal). Reed's father was the voice of the town before Reed took over. His parents were both killed in a car crash, along with his fiance's mother. Reed's fiance in the movie is Kate (Bledel).

This is sort of a Sweet Home Alabama-type movie, but played in the opposing viewpoint. Instead of seeing the person coming back from the 'big' city, you see the person who never left be infatuated with the girl who did. Jill (Fisk) is a girl that graduated high school with Reed, but moved away to go to college. When she returns, things sort of get thrown for a loop, as Reed starts to realize that his life has sort of been planned out for him due to his father's death.

In a drunken moment, one night, Reed plants a kiss on Jill, who returns the favor. It is sort of to be expected, Reed had never seemed like he wanted to get married to Kate anyway, but was just going through the motions. Well, after telling Kate, she ended the wedding - and due to the small town they lived in - Reed became hated by everyone.

But, who would Reed end up with in the end? The girl he had been friends with all of his life (Kate), but accidentally ended up hurting. Or the girl who woke him up from the already-picked-out life he had been leading?

That's up to you to find out, if you wish to check out the movie. The whole movie-within-a-movie thing kind of confuses you a bit, because you associate Bledel as Kate and Fisk as Jill. But, they are only actors in Fish's movie. Kate ends up being Valerie Azlynn in the end of the movie, and the 'real' Jill is played by Shiri Appleby - confusing? Yes, but it all sort of makes sense - I promise.

This movie was not as good as Lone Star State of Mind nor was it nearly as funny. Baruchal, I feel, is not really a leading man, but more a secondary character. Bledel was pretty good as usual, and Fisk really surprised me - I was not a fan of hers in Orange County, but she was a lot better in this one. Qualls was again the comic relief in the movie, but they didn't use him as well, nor as much as they should have.

Until next time.