Man Up

Overview

We open on a hotel party, all the horrors of the world: a Hawaiian-themed engagement bash. Upstairs in her room, a single woman in her mid-thirties takes a swig of wine, stares into a mirror and convinces herself to join in… only to immediately abort and instead order room service, don her tracksuits pants and settle in to watch Silence of the Lambs.

This is Nancy (Lake Bell), a sarcastic, self-deprecating and utterly cynical romantic train wreck. The following day, however, mistaken identity lands her on a blind date with Jack (Simon Pegg), and — against all odds — they hit it off. What follows is a sort of ‘un-romantic comedy’ transpiring entirely over the course of one evening, and while its outcome is formulaic, the journey is novel enough to warrant viewing.

To its credit, Man Up dispenses with the ‘will he find out?’ subplot a lot faster than expected, focusing instead on Jack's subsequent outrage as its primary source of tension and drama. It also boasts some of the most realistic family writing in years, with Nancy’s parents, sister and brother-in-law providing a charming mix of laughs and tear-jerkers in practically every one of their scenes. Pegg and Bell hold the lion’s share of screen time, however, and their obvious chemistry keeps everything cracking along at a jolly pace.

Man Up offers an amusing and — at times — honest perspective on modern dating, complete with drunken sobbing, burdensome baggage and unforgettable exes. With its “fuck the past!” mantra and enthusiasm for risk taking, the script's none-too-subtle critique of self-help books ultimately ends up proffering a fairly pronounced message of its own — but it’s not a bad one, and neither is the film.