Dan and I watched this at home the other night, and we laughed our asses off.
I picked it primarily because it was filmed in Pittsburgh. I had also read pretty positive reviews of it. I believe one critic billed it as “a love letter to Pittsburgh.”
She’s Out of My League is about four friends who work at the Pittsburgh International Airport. Kirk, played by Jay Baruchel, attracts the attention of a “hard 10” when he saves her from being hassled at airport security, and then finds her iPhone. Neither Kirk, nor his friends and family, can believe it when Molly (Alice Eve) seems to want to date him.
Not only is it a perfectly hilarious movie, it perfectly captures Pittsburgh. For example, the character Stainer (T. J. Miller) has curly blonde hair — only it’s not cool California surfer curly, or hipster NYC curly. I said to Dan, “No one in LA or New York would have hair like that. That is Pittsburgh hair.” So true. Oh, and he’s in a Hall & Oates cover band, a bad one if that’s not redundant.
One of my friends protested that they portrayed Brillobox, a bar in Lawrenceville, as a big nightclub, but my thought was that if that was the harshest criticism he had, then it’s a pretty good movie. Kirk and Molly go to a Pens’ game, enjoy the view from Mt. Washington, dine outdoors in Market Square (can you do that?), and otherwise enjoy Kirk’s hometown (he bills himself as “Pittsburgh born and bred”). Molly, who is, indeed, hot, travels a lot (she’s a party planner who hops to New York City pretty often) and has recently ended a relationship with a guy (Cam, played by Geoff Stults) who’s as pretty as she is.
What I especially liked about the movie was that it wasn’t [just] about boys behaving badly. (I’m looking at you, Judd Apatow.) It captures the adult male camaraderie between four childhood friends without resorting to low-brow bathroom humor (although there is some of that, too), insulting women, or bashing gays. I have enjoyed my share of Apatow movies (hello, 40-Year-Old Virgin), but sometimes the bromance flicks go overboard, especially when it comes to potty humor. Please, I have toddlers at home. I get potty humor with my Saturday coffee.
The movie is extremely funny with sweet touches in the right places. And I don’t recall a film in which Pittsburgh looked prettier.
Red Pen Mama 