Man Up - directed by Ben Palmer
Starring: Simon Pegg, Lake Bell, Rory Kinnear, Olivia Williams, Ken Stott, Ophelia Lovibond, Dean-Charles Chapman
Running Time: 88 minutes
Rated: M - Small amount of profanity
Romantic Comedy.
It's a genre that I spend a lot of time defending.
In truth it is my tolerance of it that I am defending not the genre.
'They're for girls' people tell me.
'They're rubbish- lowest common denominator'....
'Matthew McConaughey and Katherine Heigl.... ugh'.
You've probably either heard one of these or even uttered one or yourself.
Hell, I have said one of them in my time.
Here's the thing for me - like the horror genre (which I love greatly) you have to rummage through the junk to get to the gems.
"Notting Hill", "Love Actually" and my personal favourite "Crazy Stupid Love" are all not just good rom-coms - they are flat out just damned good movies.
What I am trying to express is that for me the genre - or even an often dire history- doesn't necessarily say anything about an individual movie.
Believe me - I have sat through some godawful horror flicks in my time but every time I sit down to watch a new one they are a distant memory - replaced by hope and expectation.
And so it is with Romantic Comedies.
In the case of "Man Up" there are a couple of things that made me very hopeful.
Simon Pegg.
And Rory Kinnear.
Pegg is Pegg and at this point he scarcely needs hyping up.
Kinnear on the other hand is an actor who consistently does great work often in roles that aren't flashy or scene stealing but nonetheless often for me are the highlight of projects in which he appears.
His work as Frankenstein's Monster in the excellent tv show "Penny Dreadful" stands out even in a cast that includes Eva Green, Timothy Dalton, Simon Russell Beale, Sarah Greene and Helen McCrory.
Because of great writing for sure but also because Kinnear finds the humanity in the creature so, so well.
In "Man Up" he is used to different effect.
This is a light and fluffy movie after all- hardly a surprise for a romantic comedy I know.
The setup here is that Lake Bell's Nancy plays along when she is mistaken for Jack's (Pegg) blind date.
She is holding an awful self help book in her hand that a dreadfully dizzy bore (and aforementioned actual blind date) on the train suggested she read and was intending using as an identifier for the date with Jack.
Nancy plays along because she is the same sort of Bridget Jones sadsack who may look utterly desirable but for the sake of comedy is in fact hopelessly, depressingly single.
It is of course the execution that is important for these sorts of films rather than the plot.... thankfully.
In this case it is good rather than great.
Bell and Pegg manage a decent amount of chemistry and it is in fact Bell who takes the honours here.
Her performance makes Nancy just odd enough to be interesting but not so much so that she seems completely unreal.
Her mouthing along with Hannibal dialogue from "The Silence of the Lambs" is great and in fact foreshadows a rather neatly lifted cut late in the piece also borrowed from Demme's great Oscar winner.
Also the Duran Duran assisted reveal that Nancy and Jack are a good match may be heavy handed but I liked it.
Jack is not coping well with a divorce and the character needs someone of Pegg's calibre lest he tip over from slightly sad to fully pathetic.
Pegg brings his usual humour and lad-ish likability to the role though.
It is the quirks that the leads add that make the pair well matched and I liked them as a potential couple.
Nancy and Jack are solid.
The issue is the supporting cast.
They are underwritten and yet over-featured.
Her family exist solely as plot devises and of course for the finale that we all know is sure to come.
They just aren't any fun and the attempts to make them likable with some flat dialogue and jokes comes off as transparent.
This movie runs for only 88 minutes and far more of it should have been spent with Jack and Nancy.
When you have actors like Ken Stott (The Hobbit) and Olivia Williams (Rushmore) in supporting roles you should give them something substantial to do and/or say.
Sadly this applies to Rory Kinnear too.
His character Sean is a disturbed stalker who still obsesses over Nancy from when they were at school.
Kinnear does what he can but this character is just not as funny as the writers assumed he would be on the page.
Everything rolls along at a decent pace carried by the appeal of Bell and the effortless goofing of Pegg and it is fun enough.
It is far more romantic than it is comedy though.
In its heart this movie wants to be a "Four Weddings and A Funeral" farce loaded with 'ooh- look what a mess they're in now' moments.
There is an abundance of awkward situations but very few of them fly anywhere near well enough to be memorable.
The net result is a movie that is never boring and in which there is investment in seeing the central pair wind up together but that falls far too short on the memorable moments or big laughs quota.
It needs a bad wedding speech scene or a confession of true love via hold up cards bit or a 'You had me at hello' moment even.
Something that stamps a personality on it.
It tries hard with a couple of toilet(!) scenes and with Kinnears character but they just don't pop.
This movie has made me a fan of Lake Bell though so I give it credit there.
She is a fascinating actress who I look forward to seeing more of and of course she is apparently a talented writer and director too.
"Man Up" is perfectly fine - nothing more, nothing less.
RATING: 70 / 100
CONCLUSION: It never quite finds a personality of its own to differentiate it from a hundred of its ilk but the leads are good and it is quite a pleasant (and short) romp.
Oh, and there are two Game Of Thrones actors and one Guardians of the Galaxy actress to spot for fans of those.
Running Time: 88 minutes
Rated: M - Small amount of profanity
Romantic Comedy.
It's a genre that I spend a lot of time defending.
In truth it is my tolerance of it that I am defending not the genre.
'They're for girls' people tell me.
'They're rubbish- lowest common denominator'....
'Matthew McConaughey and Katherine Heigl.... ugh'.
You've probably either heard one of these or even uttered one or yourself.
Hell, I have said one of them in my time.
Here's the thing for me - like the horror genre (which I love greatly) you have to rummage through the junk to get to the gems.
"Notting Hill", "Love Actually" and my personal favourite "Crazy Stupid Love" are all not just good rom-coms - they are flat out just damned good movies.
What I am trying to express is that for me the genre - or even an often dire history- doesn't necessarily say anything about an individual movie.
Believe me - I have sat through some godawful horror flicks in my time but every time I sit down to watch a new one they are a distant memory - replaced by hope and expectation.
And so it is with Romantic Comedies.
In the case of "Man Up" there are a couple of things that made me very hopeful.
Simon Pegg.
And Rory Kinnear.
Pegg is Pegg and at this point he scarcely needs hyping up.
Kinnear on the other hand is an actor who consistently does great work often in roles that aren't flashy or scene stealing but nonetheless often for me are the highlight of projects in which he appears.
 |
| Rory Kinnear as Sean |
Because of great writing for sure but also because Kinnear finds the humanity in the creature so, so well.
In "Man Up" he is used to different effect.
This is a light and fluffy movie after all- hardly a surprise for a romantic comedy I know.
The setup here is that Lake Bell's Nancy plays along when she is mistaken for Jack's (Pegg) blind date.
She is holding an awful self help book in her hand that a dreadfully dizzy bore (and aforementioned actual blind date) on the train suggested she read and was intending using as an identifier for the date with Jack.
Nancy plays along because she is the same sort of Bridget Jones sadsack who may look utterly desirable but for the sake of comedy is in fact hopelessly, depressingly single.
It is of course the execution that is important for these sorts of films rather than the plot.... thankfully.
In this case it is good rather than great.
Bell and Pegg manage a decent amount of chemistry and it is in fact Bell who takes the honours here.
Her performance makes Nancy just odd enough to be interesting but not so much so that she seems completely unreal.
Her mouthing along with Hannibal dialogue from "The Silence of the Lambs" is great and in fact foreshadows a rather neatly lifted cut late in the piece also borrowed from Demme's great Oscar winner.
Also the Duran Duran assisted reveal that Nancy and Jack are a good match may be heavy handed but I liked it.
 |
| The supporting characters are lifeless |
Pegg brings his usual humour and lad-ish likability to the role though.
It is the quirks that the leads add that make the pair well matched and I liked them as a potential couple.
Nancy and Jack are solid.
The issue is the supporting cast.
They are underwritten and yet over-featured.
Her family exist solely as plot devises and of course for the finale that we all know is sure to come.
They just aren't any fun and the attempts to make them likable with some flat dialogue and jokes comes off as transparent.
This movie runs for only 88 minutes and far more of it should have been spent with Jack and Nancy.
When you have actors like Ken Stott (The Hobbit) and Olivia Williams (Rushmore) in supporting roles you should give them something substantial to do and/or say.
Sadly this applies to Rory Kinnear too.
His character Sean is a disturbed stalker who still obsesses over Nancy from when they were at school.
Kinnear does what he can but this character is just not as funny as the writers assumed he would be on the page.
 |
| Nancy (Lake Bell) and Jack (Simon Pegg) - falling in love over books, beer and bowling |
It is far more romantic than it is comedy though.
In its heart this movie wants to be a "Four Weddings and A Funeral" farce loaded with 'ooh- look what a mess they're in now' moments.
There is an abundance of awkward situations but very few of them fly anywhere near well enough to be memorable.
The net result is a movie that is never boring and in which there is investment in seeing the central pair wind up together but that falls far too short on the memorable moments or big laughs quota.
It needs a bad wedding speech scene or a confession of true love via hold up cards bit or a 'You had me at hello' moment even.
Something that stamps a personality on it.
It tries hard with a couple of toilet(!) scenes and with Kinnears character but they just don't pop.
This movie has made me a fan of Lake Bell though so I give it credit there.
She is a fascinating actress who I look forward to seeing more of and of course she is apparently a talented writer and director too.
"Man Up" is perfectly fine - nothing more, nothing less.
Oh, and there are two Game Of Thrones actors and one Guardians of the Galaxy actress to spot for fans of those.
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