You know, the awkward moment when a 29 year-old man is going to see a Zac Efron movie and hopes he won’t bump into any girls he likes at the cinema? Yuh huh, that’s the one. Well… More awkward… I really enjoyed this movie.
Zac Efron stars as a cartoonish, sexist pig who spends all his time sleeping with girls, ditching said girls and walking around town with his two pals drinking endless cups of coffee. But when one of his pals reaches the end of a marriage, the guys rally around and in an attempt to make him feel better. vow never to enter a relationship with anyone, ever. Does it work? Of course it doesn’t, as each hopeless moron instantly falls for a girl… Jason (Efron) falls for one of the best looking girls i’ve ever seen in a movie, Ellie (Played by Imogen Berne… Eh, Imogen Poots… Apologies) who he at first believes is a hooker, Danny (Miles Teller… And a whole load of scars) takes a shine to Chelsea, a nerd with a heart of gold and a very nice singing voice (Mackenzie Davis) and Mikey (Michael B. Jordan)falls for… his wife (Jessica Lucas… You can tell i’m IMDBing this names, can’t you?). But as Jason’s two friends are more than happy to enter into relationships and break their pact, he decides to carry on being a cheat, a liar and actually quite a staggering idiot, although he knows he has feelings for Ellie. Will he learn the error of his ways in time? Will Ellie even want him after the way he treats her? Do you care?
Well, for me, it works. It’s got a great sense of humour going on, some real laugh out loud moments between the guys, which save the movie from being a total chick flick. There’s long sections that just seem to ramble on, Bridget Jones moments as i call them, the kind of attempts at being romantic that even some girls may cringe at. But at it’s core, it does have a gentle heart, it sets out to tell a funny and romantic, but also serious story that a lot of men could learn from, which makes a change with a movie like this (Usually you’re told to pick women up, drop them and never think of them again). As already mentioned, it does tend to go down the dreary “Let’s bare our souls” road a little too often, but it’s got enough laughs to sustain it, all of which are vulgar and all the better for it (There’s a party scene with Efron that made me wipe tears of laughter from my eyes).
One other point i should mention, which came as a surprise… Zac Efron was actually pretty decent, he comes across quite well as a leading man, and his scenes with Imogen were very sweet, particularly the ending. It was a nice surprise. The other guys add nothing of note, aside from the few big laughs, their plotlines are awful. But Efron and Poots hold up nicely together. And something for everyone, Imogen for us boys, a naked Zac Efron for the ladies… (Don’t get excited girls, it’s tasteful in a not so tasteful way)
Written and directed by a guy named Tom Gormicon (Who has one other credit to his name… A co-producer on Movie 43, which i hear just might be the worst movie ever made), That Awkward Moment is worth seeing if you’re an old romantic, a fan of Zac Efron or just wanting to see the extremely pretty Imogen Poots on a big screen (I am quite taken with her). Think American Pie with heart and better jokes.
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