.: Roberts' Reviews - Movie Reviews :.

…and in the end, but boy gets the girl.

Romantic comedies have had the same closing chapter themes for years. In fact, most of them have the same opening chapter themes as well. Boy meets girl. Boy is inferior to girl. Boy and girl have some random event that separates them for about 20 minutes of screen time. Boy wins back girl. Fade to black.

Yawn.

It is a tired and predictable formula, yet countless films trot out into theatres every year bringing nothing new to the table.

Every once and a while there is a surprise, intelligent spin on the ordinary. Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist last year being one. (500) Days of Summer being another. But these are so rare that even Indiana Jones would have a hard time finding one.

Well, Indy, take the rest of the year off - She's Out of My League is an intelligent, whimsical and romantic film of the genre that is not only brilliantly written by Sean Anders and John Morris, but it is easily the best film of the early 2010 release year.

She's Out of My League stars Jay Baruchel as Kirk, a geeky airport worker that finds an iPhone left at security by Molly (Alice Eve) and returns the device to the owner sparking a relationship that is both unlikely and incredibly believable.

Molly is a '10'. She's a beautiful blonde that can hold her own at hockey games or when confronted by harsh environments such as Kirk's dysfunctional family. She is successful and could likely have any many of her choosing. Kirk has more strikes against him than a thirty year old bowling pin. Not only does he have the look of someone who could have been ripped from Lord of the Rings, he is also awkward in his approach to the relationship and defensive having just recently stopped pining for former girlfriend Marnie (Lindsay Salone).

99 times out of 100, this relationship wouldn't stand a chance, and that is clear to Kirk's friends, Stainer, Jack and Devon and to Molly's wing-woman, Patty. Although neither posse are directly discouraging, they are as confused as the audience as to how these two unliklies could make the relationship work.

Directed by Jim Field Smith (I know, I had to look him up too), She's Out of My League uses stellar acting performances with a razor sharp script to provide a comedy is likely to inch its way on the list of one of 'the best date movies' of the past few years. Even when the film slips into low brow humor - an ejaculation joke, a sequence on the shaving of one's private area - it is handled with a touch of class that Zack and Miri Make a Porno only wished it could have incorporated.

With the summer releases around the corner, movies such as She's Out of My League will get lost in the shuffle. But seek it out. It's well worth the risk.