| “That Awkward Moment” is a buddy comedy/romantic comedy which is about as predictable as they come. But just because you know crude jokes are coming, it doesn’t mean you won’t still laugh. And just because you know they’re going to fall in love, it doesn’t mean that you won’t want them to. It airs more on the side of comedy than anything else and delivers a lot of attempted jokes; some funny, some not very funny. | | 2014
Directed by: Tom Gormican
Screenplay by: Tom Gormican
Starring: Zac Efron, Miles Teller and Michael B. Jordan
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| Photos courtesy of VVS Films. |
Jason (Zac Efron) loves being single, probably because he gets to sleep with whomever he wants whenever he wants. Daniel (Miles Teller) loves the idea of being single, but doesn’t seem to be all that good at it. Mikey (Michael B. Jordan) is getting divorced, and he doesn’t love that. If he seems like the odd one out, that’s because he is. One of the biggest problems with the movie is the mis-match of writing and characters. Jokes that don't fit for some characters, and characters that don't get the writing that others do.
Mikey is subdued, meant to be more dramatic and offers little laughs. He belongs in a different movie all together (although I did appreciate the chemistry of Jordan with the other two guys). Miles Teller has proven as of late that he can deliver comedic lines hilariously. He was given the majority of the one-liners and I was expecting him to steal the show, but he didn’t because the writing just wasn’t there for him.
However, Jason is the lead and Efron carries the movie. He’s a pretty outlandish character – he’s arrogant, selfish, aloof and emotionally retarded. He even says so himself. And delivers the comedy and even connects with some drama (although how dramatic is it really when we know exactly what’s going to happen?). While I have enjoyed Efron’s indie character dramas recently, I didn’t realize how good he was at over-the-top comedy, and many of Jason’s more outlandish stunts resulted in some pretty decent comedy stylings.
Seeing as this is a guy’s movie, it’s rather odd that the better written supporting character was Ellie (Imogen Poots), Jason’s love interest. She was given less predictable turns and a more fully-realized character than the others. I definitely wish that they either turned Daniel’s and Mikey’s storylines into flat-out comedy so it could have been more easily relatable as a buddy comedy, or at least gave them surprising plot turns so the drama (and the not-so-funny jokes) of “That Awkward Moment” wouldn't have fallen as flat.
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