“Breaking my “”blog in order”” rule because that’s trumped by “”get advance screenings blogged immediately””. As much as I wanted to stay home in my cozy warm pajamas yesterday, I braved the weather to go to the Common for an advance screening of That Awkward Moment. I’d say worth it.
I usually stay away from any sort of romantic comedy. So why this one? And no, the answer isn’t simply because it was free. Rather, I was very interested in seeing things from a guy’s point of view. Hollywood is flooded to the point of nauseum with romance as girls (supposedly) see it. Guys not so much. Last year’s Don Jon left me feeling like I had a whole new perspective on the male psyche and I thought this one would leave me feeling similarly. And, being from a guy’s point of view, the humor seemed raunchier. Also a plus. The trailer did have me laughing, and it didn’t seem overly cheesey, so yeah I thought it was worth a shot. The guys in question also helped: Michael B Jordan gave the film some credibility, Miles Teller the likeability, and Zac Efron the eye candy.
Did it get overly sappy at times? Yes. Were parts of it unrealistic? Of course. But I still appreciated the insight it gave. Sure the guys fell into stereotypical caricatures of extremes here and there, but its nice to know that guys over think these things too. Maybe they do approach these things a lot more casually that girls do (which is def good to be aware of) but they’re just as vulnerable. And I’m getting overly philosophical now.
I did enjoy the comedy, as expected (Teller in particular had some delicious dialog), but I felt they could have taken a few more risks with it. Maybe spread out the spoken gems a bit more evenly among the bunch. But the boys carried it well, and I definitely appreciated the age appropriate casting. They’re all 26ish playing 26ish year olds. I swear I just saw some of those still stuck in high school. I’m also appreciating Zac Efron reinventing himself as a comedic actor (the Neighbors trailer from the other day furthers that). I think he pulls off the straight character well. The girls weren’t bad either. Imogen Poots and Mackenzie Davis may have been a bit manic pixie dream girl, but I much prefer that over fairy tale ingenue.
That Awkward Moment – \m/ \m/ \m/ \n