That Awkward Moment

I have seen some really harsh reviews of this film. I saw it last week, and in all honesty it was quite obvious what it was about and my only reason for going was because I quite liked the look of the cast and wouldn't mind staring at them for a couple of hours.. Fair enough right? Maybe not.. Well anyway, I've been reading up on this film and it is quite broadly disliked; people wondering who the target audience is and why it was even made. My response to that is calm down! Really ripping the film apart! It was no award winning movie but it was a laugh, had its ups and down, cheesy moments but wasn't terrible...

It's based on three guys, I'd say mid-twenties, all exploring the single life. Mikey (Michael B. Jordan) is going through a divorce after his wife cheated on him  but he isn't exactly moving on, just maybe backwards. The other two are trying to avoid any sort of relationship in honour of helping Mikey move on, typically this instantly leads to them both falling for someone. Daniel (Miles Teller) begins seeing his extremely pretty wing-woman Chelsea, albeit its a secret relationship, he is ready to shove away his single lifestyle for her. Jason (Zac Efron) meets Ellie (Imogen Poots) in a bar where she is being hit on by someone else, they go into a rather strange monologue about how buying a drink for someone is essentially a marriage proposal and an unhappy life together... Skipping ahead, Jason inevitably messes things up and then has to claw his way back in to her life, just as everything was going so awkwardly well. 

Basically it is a story of their journey as three best friends trying to stick together when they are all struggling through their unknown. It is not your everyday romcom but more of a 'Bromance'. Which was probably its best selling point to be honest. Their friendship triangle is quite funny, watching them try and support Mikey when he is going through his break up by throwing his Ben&Jerrys out of the window and giving him a 'boner pill' before the night out. Seeing how they ridicule one and other like we are all known to do, we all know the best friendships are the ones where we can laugh at ourselves and more importantly - each other.

When Tom Gormican wrote the film, he says he was trying to portray three friends who all need to 'lean on each other and support each other' which they do for the most part, but I think what the film lacks is actual relatable situations. Jason mistakes Ellie for a prostitute because he recently read an article on 'women of the night' which she had a copy of, along with 'hooker heels' and a wad of cash on her side, so as you do after a one night stand, you run away in case she wants payment! Then there's that awkward moment when your girlfriend jumps on you at her family's Thanks Giving party and you get naughty in the shower just as your best friend walks in followed by your other best friend. Casual. It's just these aren't normal situations, even if they are supposedly "awkward". 

Gormican said it took 24 days to film the entire movie, which is impressive except there isn't many different sets or variety. The three boys were quite comical and the acting wasn't bad.. The highlight for me was Miles Teller, he is naturally funny and really suits his character, though I think he may be falling into a bit of a typecast hole as he is very much this kind of ladish ballsy guy in every recent role we have seen him in. Michael has his moments but Zac was rather disappointing in my opinion, aside from being beautiful topless he lacked emotion, many ups and downs for Jason but his expression just hardly varied. Plus that awful monologue popped back up at the end and was poorly written and pointless in the first place! Comedies often critique poorly anyway but this was alright, my favourite was Mikey's reoccurring line!

Story Line 6.0

Acting - 6.4

Comedy - 6.2

I wouldn't recommend going to the cinema for this one, it is more of a night in with a friend and the DVD kind of film! Give it a watch and let me know what you think.