She's Out of My League

I did not have high hopes for this when Alex queued it up on Netflix and insisted it was funny, because, well, Alex' taste in movies has often led me astray. That said, I did laugh a lot at this, definitely more than I was expecting going in.

Krysten Ritter gets to play the angry, sarcastic best girl friend, which she means she gets a lot of good lines. T.J. Miller is not an OK person, I know, but his delivery on a lot of his lines as the angry, sarcastic best guy friend is good. The movie gives those two the chance to insult the hell out of each other for 10-30 seconds every so often, and it's always a good idea. Kirk's family is a ridiculous embarrassment, but at least some of the time it's funny rather than making me cringe. The basement hockey showdown cracked me up, in part because I expected Kirk would be humiliated again, and the movie didn't go that way.

The mediocre-looking guy (played by Jay Baruchel) dating the much more attractive lady (Alice Eve) is extremely cliche, but the movie at least tries to address it by showing that Kirk is a fairly polite and helpful person, and is this way without expecting anything in return. And this is why she gives him a try, because her last boyfriend was an egotistical dick.

Also, the movie points out that Kirk, more than his friends, and much more than Molly, is the one who thinks she's too good for him. He sabotages himself, and if he becomes a better person by the end, it's at least in part for himself, rather than simply to land the girl. Which is probably a good lesson. Be a better person because you think you should or need to be, not just to impress someone else.