She’s Out Of My League is a film we can all relate to. Guy meets girl, girl is out of his league and I mean way out of his league. But, of course, he decides to go for it anyway. Everyone knows the position, whether they’ve been in it or not. The film hopes to capture our romantic hearts. Is it too cute for its own good or does it strike all the right chords and land itself a perfect ten?
It tells the story of Kirk (Jay Baruchel), a guy who has never really had much success with women. Enter Molly (Alice Eve), “a perfect 10” in the opinion of Kirk’s friends. The two meet and hit it off, but as they fall further for each other Kirk’s lack of confidence and Molly’s own personal issues start to chip away at their relationship. As he struggles to make it work, everyone around Kirk doubts him. It’s the same generic underdog romantic comedy story that has been used a million times before and will be familiar to almost everyone.
Despite the inevitable predictability of it all, She’s Out Of My League is an enjoyable film with a whole lotta heart. Rather than trying to gross us out with revolting and crude humor, the film relies on more tame scenes to earn laughter from the audience.
Because of this gentle tone, the film retains its tender, charming and heartwarming feel. It makes it easier to root for our protagonists and stay connected to them. A large part of this is thanks to the strong performances by all members of the cast. Baruchel and Eve are both perfectly cast as the leads here.
Eve is certainly a bombshell and perfectly fits the role of that perfect ten girl. She’s pretty, confident, funny and finds an unexpected chemistry with Baruchel, who plays the role with caution and a boatload of self-consciousness. His physical appearance also lends to the role and makes it all the more believable, though it’s still hard to buy.
The supporting cast is just as strong and actually offers the majority of the laughs. T.J. Miller is especially good in his role as Stainer, Kirk’s best friend.
That said, She’s Out of My League does suffer from some problems. First of all, the predictability of the whole movie detracts from the viewing experience. It’s so straightforward the film lacks any surprise. Everything that happens anyone can predict from the film’s beginning. There’s also the implausibility of the romance. Though Baruchel and Eve do their best to make it work on screen, it’s hard to look past the skinny nerd and the gorgeous model holding his hand. That no character in the film has much depth doesn’t help the experience either.
There is something charming and heartwarming about the film though. It cannot be denied. Perhaps it’s relatability of the story. She’s out Of My League is a winner. Perhaps not first in the race, but certainly worthy of a being a league member.
The transfer comes through fairly well aside from a few errors. The picture quality is good and scenes shot outdoors are particularly pretty. The color palette is rich and the flesh tones are displayed pretty well. Facial nuances could have been better and a couple indoor scenes struggle to find the perfect balance of lighting but, overall, this is not a bad visual transfer. Of course, there are no jaw-dropping effects here or anything to show off your new TV with, but there’s not much to complain about either.
The audio mainly revolves around the dialogue and for the most part it does a good job. It keeps it at the center of the track and it is almost always clear and crisp. I say almost always because sometimes the dialogue can be overtaken by the music. In some scenes the music becomes too dominant and drowns out the dialogue a bit. You may find yourself constantly adjusting your volume when the music plays, In some scenes, it’s simply too loud. Deep bass is found in certain scenes and dialogue reproduction is fine for the most part. Aside from the music issue, all is fine with the audio, atmospherics sound good, the few sound effects that are here are portrayed correctly and overall the audio does a fine job.
The extras are where the film really drops the ball. The special features are as follows:
– Audio Commentary with Director Jim Field Smith
– Devon’s Dating Show (1080p, 7:28): Devon and Dylan from the film discuss dating.
– Blooper Reel (1080p, 6:20)
– Four Deleted Scenes (1080p, 3:33): One additional ending
Nothing here really stands out. The commentary is rather drab. It’s a fairly standard affair. We hear about casting and shooting situations, problems that arose while filming etc. There are a few dead spots which make it not worth your time. As for the other extras, they are all forgettable and don’t really add anything significant.
Overall we get an enjoyable movie with a less than satisfying Blu-ray package. The film itself is worth a watch despite the flaws listed above. It would have been nice to get a few more extras to increase the value of the package, but aside from that, the other aspects of the Blu-Ray don’t disappoint.
Movie – 7 out of 10
Video – 7.5 out of 10
Audio – 7 out of 10
Extras -2 out of 10
Bottom Line: If you’ve seen it, you know what to expect. Unless you truly loved this film, I’d say rent it as you’ll probably only want to watch the film once or twice and there aren’t many extras. If you haven’t seen it though I would certainly recommend you check it out. It’s fun, charming, and a film that we can all relate to in some way.