Up & Coming Weekly

Low Rent Rom Com She’s Out of My League (Rated R) by HEATHER GRIFFITHS She’s Out of My League (104 minutes) isn’t bad. Unfortunately, it isn’t all that great either. It starts off as a perfectly acceptable romantic comedy and offers quite a few giggles, but ends up as a lackluster, half- hearted movie that doesn’t quite ring true. Director Jim Field Smith seems to reach for a classier There’s Something About Mary, but he fails to realize that movie succeeded precisely because it lacked any class. What gross-out effects he reaches for aren’t working because his leads can’t carry the material. He borrows a few pages from Meet the Parents, but Jay Baruchel (as adorable as he is) is no Ben Stiller. Kirk (Jay Baruchel) is our hero. He is working as a security guard at the Pittsburgh International Airport, and he is not nearly as passionate about his job as someone sorta kinda involved in prevent- ing terrorism should be. He spends most of his time moping about his ex-girl- friend Marnie (Lindsay Sloane) and preparing several sad sack little speeches to win her back. None of which work, because he tries to win her back in front of his entire family, plus one or two randoms who are not at all sympathetic to his quest. His goals change when he meets Molly (Alice Eve), a so-called “hard 10.” )Aside: What does that even mean? She seems pretty down to earth, and looks pleasant enough. But when you get right down to it, she’s kind of a daddy’s girl, she apparently doesn’t even know what sneakers or sweatpants are, and she has a super mean friend. One man’s 10 is another man’s 5, and honestly, Jay Baruchel is not some kind of hideous troll. Fix the self-esteem issues and you’ve got at least an 8.) So, Kirk meets Molly and his excellently supportive friends begin immediately undermining him. While it is hard to tell if Molly is genuinely interested in dating Kirk, or just interested in starting a relationship where she holds all the power, their romance is sweet and satisfies the basic plot requirements of the boy-meets-girl movie. The two sweethearts have an awk- ward date, followed by a fight and then they kiss and make-up. Molly’s ex-boyfriend Cam (Geoff Stults) interferes with their love, but not very effectively. The real issue becomes apparent far too late in the movie for the audience to develop any real empathy for the characters. Then, instead of focusing on any real character development or innovation narra- tive, the final act dissolves into a farcical failure. The climax revolves around a completely unbelievable series of events taking place in an airplane, at airport security and on the airfield. Any one of the events depicted as occurring at the Pittsburgh airport, if they had occurred in real life, would have resulted in suspensions, fines, arrests, human resource seminars and/or jail. If the characters were engaging, or their character arcs were more compelling, a few departures from reality would have gone unnoticed. The writers manage to get their fair share of laughs, and the supporting characters hold their own. Overall, this might work as a forgettable little date movie. HEATHER GRIFFITHS, Contributing Writer COMMENTS? 484-6200 ext. 222 or editor@upandcomingweekly.com 20 UCW MARCH 31-APRIL 6, 2010 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM Me, Myself and Them United States of Tara diagnoses a mom’s split personality TV by Dean Robbins Diablo Cody’s United States of Tara (Monday, 10:30 p.m.) makes Showtime a must- subscribe premium station, just as The Sopranos did for HBO. The subject is the mutability of modern identity. Our everywom- an is Tara (Toni Collette), who feels divided about her marriage, her kids and her place in the world. Many of us do, but in Tara’s case, the division is literal. She has multiple personality disorder, and her “alters” include the oversexed teen T, the old-school housewife Alice, and the macho male Buck. Still, Tara muddles along with her suburban life, and her family deals with the changes. Just as in real life, crazy is the new normal. In this week’s episode, Tara agonizes about her activities as Buck. “He” is involved with Pammy (Joey Lauren Adams), who’s fallen deeply in love with “him.” Like everything else in this TV universe, sexual identity proves to be elusive. Tara is confused about which gender category she fits into; indeed, by the end of the half-hour, the whole idea of categories looks hope- lessly antiquated. Pammy finds out that Buck is really a female but remains unfazed. “I love you for who you really are,” she says. And who, exactly, is that? SGU: Stargate Universe Friday, 9 pm (SyFy) SGU is solid space-opera fare with only a hint of the solemn silliness inherent in the genre. This week, Col. Young’s underlings suspect he is re- sponsible for a colleague’s death. Meanwhile, aliens fire on their spaceship and take a beautiful female crew member hostage. Col. Young travels to the alien craft to find her imprisoned in a fish tank wearing a kind of scuba mask. Her makeup remains impeccable during and after captivity. The aliens could use rethinking. They’re those cheesy ectomorphs with oversized heads you see in so many science-fiction productions. Plus, with brains that big, couldn’t they come up with a more sophisticated prison than a fish tank? Tori & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood Monday, 10 pm (Oxygen) This is one of those bogus reality shows where people unconvincingly pretend to live their lives for the camera. Are we really supposed to believe that married couple Tori Spelling and Dean McDermott spontaneously de- cided to take a cross-country trip in an RV for the season premiere? Or is it more likely that the producers simply handed Tori and Dean the script? When the cameraman films the couple chatting in bed, in a roadside motel, in the dark, with suspiciously glamorous lighting, you stop expecting that anything here will be “real.” I don’t mind bogus reality series if they’re entertaining, but the fact that Tori and Dean use their two young children as props makes this one hard to enjoy. Even their marital strife is queasily exploited for plot points. They work out their issues on camera while failing to perceive the biggest problem in their marriage: the fact that they work out their issues on camera! Christian Siriano: Having a Moment Monday, 10 pm (Bravo) After winning Project Runway, skinny, bespectacled Christian Siriano became a rising star in the fashion world. Thanks to his appealingly childlike personality, his special having a moment is among the most enjoyable hours of reality TV you’ll see all year. Siriano is not obnoxious, mean-spirited or boneheaded — the types favored by most reality producers. He’s playful and witty, with a penchant for ironically amping up the drama in every situ- ation. One of his favorite words is “literally” because it gives his relentless exaggeration even more punch: “It’s literally the most fabulous event in New York City!” Week — or does the pounding soundtrack just make it seem that way? He works on clothes for Sarah Jessica Parker, gets interrupted by visits from his mom, and puts out a hundred fires related to his upcoming show. He also spends time at home with his partner, Brad, offering a lovely picture of gay domestic bliss. You long to hang out with them and get your own hair cut like Christian’s — a madcap mix of wisps, spikes and puffs. I’m going to watch this special at least 10 times. Literally. Life is almost unbearably intense as Christian prepares for Fashion

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