Jim Field Smith
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Filmography
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Connections, in both directions
There’s sentimental work being done by geeky Jay Baruchel (“Tropic Thunder”) and gorgeous Alice Eve in Jim Field Smith’s “She’s Out of My League.”
This young Canadian actor, part of the scenery in Knocked Up and Tropic Thunder, ascends to stardom as Kirk, a scrawny loser working at an airport, who’s laughed at by his buddies when “perfect 10” Molly (Alice Eve) takes an interest.
As a love story, "She's Out of My League" is slight and underdeveloped, but there is a bit of appeal in the pairing of Alice Eve and Jay Baruchel (2008's " Tropic Thunder ") as Molly and Kirk.
Jay Baruchel, the scarecrow-thin star of Fox’s “Undeclared” and “Tropic Thunder,” scores in his first lead role as Kirk, a guy with chronically low self-esteem who works with his buddies as a TSA employee at Pittsburgh’s airport.
In League, the average guy is Kirk (played by Jay Baruchel , of Tropic Thunder, Knocked Up, and 2010's Sorcerer's Apprentice,) -- an unassuming "6" -- who works in airport security and one day, through a series of only slightly unbelievable events, finds himself meeting and dating the aforementioned perfect girl, Molly -- a "hard 10." Naturally, Kirk can't figure out why Molly is interested, so enter Kirk's knucklehead friends and family who offer no support, ridiculous advice, and eventually beat Kirk's self-confidence to a pulp... so much so that there's nothing left -- for Kirk or for Molly.
The missed opportunities, even in something as low-concept as this, are everywhere, including a chance for Eve — a British actress whose turn in "Starter for 10" made her feel like a young Nicole Kidman — and Baruchel (" Tropic Thunder ") to move beyond caricatures.
In other words, they're about as unlikely a couple as we've seen since, say, Seth Rogen and Katherine Heigl in "Knocked Up." Like Rogen, Baruchel is no troll, but he's hardly a heartthrob.
This young Canadian actor, part of the scenery in Knocked Up and Tropic Thunder, ascends to stardom as Kirk, a scrawny loser working at an airport, who’s laughed at by his buddies when “perfect 10” Molly (Alice Eve) takes an interest.
In League, the average guy is Kirk (played by Jay Baruchel , of Tropic Thunder, Knocked Up, and 2010's Sorcerer's Apprentice,) -- an unassuming "6" -- who works in airport security and one day, through a series of only slightly unbelievable events, finds himself meeting and dating the aforementioned perfect girl, Molly -- a "hard 10." Naturally, Kirk can't figure out why Molly is interested, so enter Kirk's knucklehead friends and family who offer no support, ridiculous advice, and eventually beat Kirk's self-confidence to a pulp... so much so that there's nothing left -- for Kirk or for Molly.
Likewise, Jay Baruchel, a standout in Knocked Up and Tropic Thunder, has the charm to navigate his role as Kirk — a 5 — past the implausibility of his high-school-graduate security guard's getting a gorgeous event planner/lawyer out of her underwear (that is, he would have if she'd been wearing any).
Recognizable for his roles in "Knocked Up" and "Tropic Thunder," Canadian-born comedian Jay Baruchel combines humble innocence with a knowing command of comic chops to inspire heartfelt laughs.
Baruchel is probably best known for his supporting turns in Judd Apatow films like Knocked Up (2006), although he made the greatest impression on me as a tragically self-deluded would-be boxer in Million Dollar Baby (2004).
There's Something About Mary (1998)
Directed by Bobby Farrelly
influenced She's Out of My League (2010)
Plot
Too bad the lewd, rude, R-rated comedy’s too hellbent on becoming the next “There’s Something About Mary” or Judd Apatow offshoot to realize it’s finest quality is its tender heart.
The heart of the strongest comedies comes from out of real life situations we all can relate to, which is probably why movies like "Meet the Parents" and "There's Something About Mary" have become so hugely popular and why so many movies have tried their best to emulate them.
If you combined Knocked Up with There’s Something About Mary and merged both into the scatterbrained strategies of Sex Drive writers Sean Anders and John Morris, you’d have some idea of how oddly disjointed yet ultimately satisfying She’s Our of My League is.
Your bar conversations become American Pie meets Knocked Up meets There's Something About Mary .
By mixing the sweetness of " Say Anything " with the silliness of " There's Something About Mary ," " She's Out of My League " works as well as it does thanks to a real sense of heart and a killer ensemble.
She's Out of My League is perhaps the funniest film since There's Something About Mary.
Newcomer Yara Shahidi plays Destiny, in a role slightly reminiscent of Abigail Breslin’s in the 2006 hit Little Miss Sunshine.
This sort of quest harks back to Payne’s earlier film “About Schmidt” but also has touches of films like “Little Miss Sunshine” and “The Savages” which create situations which force several dysfunctional people to work together towards the same ends.
But lean in a bit closer and squint a little, and it becomes clear that director Jim Field Smith and writers Sean Anders & John Morris have made a Kevin Smith pastiche, with raunch-mouthed wingman, pop culture references, scatology, and an emotional climax evocative of Chasing Amy.
At heart a mildly sentimental romantic comedy, it has been pushed hard in the "American Pie" direction with gross-out humor, general crudeness and "hey dude" dialogue.
Beyond that, there's an air of Farrellys at work as it delivers a number of raunchy moments that would easily fit into an "American Pie" movie, and it's far more successful at mixing raunch with romantic moments that would allow frat boys to bring dates without them being completely offended.
Your bar conversations become American Pie meets Knocked Up meets There's Something About Mary .
It’s more American Pie sequel quality.
There are too many times that the film couldn’t seem to decide whether it wanted to be a romantic comedy or a crude successor to American Pie.
Director Jim Field Smith lifts his best beats from Judd Apatow, and his worst from American Pie.
She's Out of My League gives the mathematics of love their biggest workout since Blake Edward's 10, a romantic comedy that succeeded in spite of its unsavoury premise.
Not since “Last Tango in Paris” has butter been so subversive onscreen as it is in the hypocrisy-skewering, dairy-carving comedy “Butter,” a wicked Midwest satire with razor blades stashed beneath its bright candy-apple surface.
Butter hasn’t had this much attention on the screen since Marlon Brando thought up new X-rated things to do with dairy products in Last Tango in Paris .
Close your eyes and he sounds a little like Christian Slater, circa "Heathers."
The results would be something akin to 1989's lovely "Say Anything" or 2005's adorable, underrated " Fever Pitch ."
The 40 Year-Old Virgin (2005)
Directed by Judd Apatow
influenced She's Out of My League (2010)
Characters
She's Out of My League review, She's Out of My League Blu-ray review Jay Baruchel, Alice Eve, T.J. Miller, Mike Vogel, Nate Torrence, Krysten Ritter, Geoff Stults, Lindsay Sloane Jim Field Smith She's Out of My League Rated R ) T he romantic comedy genre has gone through a pretty big evolution over the last five years, with Judd Apatow almost singlehandedly changing the game with movies like “ The 40-Year-Old Virgin ” and “ Knocked Up .”
Much like Carell in The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Baruchel’s character has settled comfortably and somewhat happily into a sexless life of exceedingly modest ambition; only the people around him think he’s a freak.
Many will dismiss "She's Out of My League" as faux Judd Apatow (Faux-patow?), but if that means ex-commercial and TV director Jim Field Smith is trying for the mix of understanding heart and foul mouth that characterize " The 40-Year-Old Virgin " and " Knocked Up ," I'll take that over the maudlin mush of " Valentine's Day " or the hateful and warped woman-hating of " The Ugly Truth ."
Kudos to director Jim Field Smith and cinematographer Jim Denault, incidentally, for giving Pittsburgh a magical sheen throughout; they do for Iron City what (500) Days of Summer did for L.A. She's Out of My League never reaches the heights of, say, The 40-Year-Old Virgin or Role Models, but it's far smarter and funnier than last year's crappy smash hit The Hangover.
The aforementioned friends are all excellent, with T.J. Miller excelling in a role that is all-too-similar to Seth Rogen’s in The 40-Year-Old Virgin.
Lindsay Sloane (2008's " Over Her Dead Body ") shows sparks of comic talent as the petty Marnie, who grows jealous only after ex Kirk starts going out with Molly, but she, too, is treated as no more than an exaggerated tool without a genuine bone in her body.
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 (2008)
Directed by Sanaa Hamri
influenced She's Out of My League (2010)
Visuals
…there are some attractive shots in and around Pittsburgh courtesy of cinematographer Jim Denault (2008's " The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 ")?but by the moronic way the human beings are asked to act it is just as likely to be confused for a different planet in a neighboring galaxy.
The script by Sean Anders and John Morris, who previously teamed on the underrated “Sex Drive,” is fresh and for the most part, avoids falling into the typical pratfalls of the romantic comedy genre.
Director Jim Field Smith, originally a British sketch comic, brings a light touch to the absurdities he inflicts upon our mathematically challenged lovebirds, as do screenwriters Sean Anders and John Morris, the pens behind the under-appreciated Sex Drive.
The screenplay from DeForest native Sean Anders and John Morris (“Sex Drive” and the upcoming “Hot Tub Time Machine”) is solid and smart, and director Jim Field Smith seems to let the actors do a lot of improvising on top of it.
If you combined Knocked Up with There’s Something About Mary and merged both into the scatterbrained strategies of Sex Drive writers Sean Anders and John Morris, you’d have some idea of how oddly disjointed yet ultimately satisfying She’s Our of My League is.
Because the laws of the romance genre require there be a falling-out, first-time feature director Jim Field Smith and screenwriters Sean Anders and John Morris (2008's " Sex Drive ") hornswoggle two doozies into the action: a misunderstanding involving, of all things, Kirk's premature ejaculation at the moment Molly's parents decide to barge in, and the other dealing with a physical imperfection Molly reveals about herself.
The screenwriters, Sean Anders and John Morris, have made a career of turning the stuff of banal dude conversations - the guy dating a girl way hotter than he is, or the guy who sets up an internet sex date many miles away (their previous credit, Sex Drive) - into Hollywood loglines.
He uses allusions to Disney cartoons such as Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast to drive home his point.
Directed in bombastic, head-pounding, Michael-Bay-style by Scott Waugh (“Act of Valor”) and scripted by George Gatins (“She’s Out of My League”) and John Gatins (“Real Steel”), “Need for Speed” boasts an amusing Michael Keaton as a racing world DJ, an appealing Scott Mescudi, also known as Kid Cudi, as an airplane pilot buddy following Tobey across the U.S. (give this “Kid” a movie), and Dakota Johnson, the screen’s “Fifty Shades of Grey” star, as Tobey’s insipid high school ex-girlfriend.
Written by first-timer George Gatins, who produced ‘‘She’s Out of My League,’’ the plot is heavy with questionable logic and monotonous dialogue.
Perhaps Molly is a fugitive terror suspect, or belongs to a freaky sex cult, or possesses an extra appendage that spews battery acid; or, maybe Kirk is a really a Good Will Hunting -esque math genius, or the inventor of the world’s first perpetual motion machine, or a freakishly skilled lover who just needed the right girl to bring out his innate talents.
The heart of the strongest comedies comes from out of real life situations we all can relate to, which is probably why movies like "Meet the Parents" and "There's Something About Mary" have become so hugely popular and why so many movies have tried their best to emulate them.
Jay Baruchel, a consistent and reliable supporting player who has recently moved front and center by lending his voice to the awkward hero of How to Train Your Dragon and playing another awkward hero in the upcoming The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, has an amiable screen presence that you can’t help but like, which makes his constant emasculation more funny than painful (he’s like an even geekier Ben Stiller from his Meet the Parents days, when he turned embarrassment into endearment).