Saturday, February 1, 2014

Movie Review: That Awkward Moment (15)

1 Feb 2014 11:47

In support of a friend devastated by a recent breakup, three guys vow to maintain their single status for as long as possible



That Awkward Moment. Pictured: Zac Efron as Jason That Awkward Moment. Pictured: Zac Efron as Jason




Times have moved on in the 20 years since Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan were starring in old fashioned romantic comedies like Sleepless in Seattle (PG) – which returns to cinemas on Valentine’s Day.


If you believe the premise here, young people can now be sleeping together for several weeks without even being sure if they are dating.


Written and debut-directed by Tom Gormican and featuring lots of engaging pavement shots in New York, the story revolves around three best friends who are all at similar make-or-break points in their different types of relationships.


Will they, won’t they, should they keep them going... or will the grass be greener with somebody else?


Playing like an explicit, junior equivalent of Sex And The City combined with the emotional immaturity that Adam Sandler delivers with his own style of ensemble movies, the film’s plot lines are messy and unfocused.


But that’s partly a desire to offer a fly-on-the-wall view.


As long as you don’t mind the often adult and sometimes rather smutty tone of the humour, there’s a sufficient underlying sweetness in store to hold the attention of under 25s with a similar disposition.


While Mikey (Michael B Jordan) wonders if he can sustain his marriage to Vera (Jessica Lucas) having married young, Jason (Zac Efron) and co-worker Daniel (Miles Teller) are both keen to keep playing the field – and respectively wondering where new acquaintance Ellie (Imogen Poots) and best friend Chelsea (Mackenzie Davis) will lead them.


The London-born Me and Orson Welles star Poots offers greater depth than Efron, who tries so hard to make it look as if he can struggle to attract women that he wears a Norton motorcycle T-shirt and dreams of ‘restoring a Jaguar XK-E’ (the E-Type).


Perhaps it’s his way of saying he finds British engineering sexy.



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