Man Up (12A.)
Directed by Ben Palmer.
Starring Lake Bell, Simon Pegg, Sharon Horgan, Olivia Williams, Ophelia Lovibond, Rory Kinnear and Ken Stott. 88 mins.
Man Up is an interesting proposition – a romcom with real world applications. It has all the improbable and contrived event you associate with the genre but instead of say Jennifer Lopez and Hugh Grant waltzing through them you get two performers who can still fake a passing resemblance to real people.
The Meet Cute is that the pair hook up when he (Pegg) mistakes her (Bell) for the blind date he is due to meet under the clock in Waterloo station and she, sensing a connection, (they share a line of dialogue from Silence of the Lambs) decides to go along and pretend to be the girl he was due to meet, a 24-year-old triathlon enthusiast (Lovibond.) The Meet Contrivance is that she then continues with the pretence long after the moment when it would be easier to just admit the truth.
The film continues the tradition of American actresses starring in British romcoms and doing faultless English accents. But where Paltrow and Zellwegger's presences helped to add box office lustre to their films, in this case the Brits are giving Lake Bell a bit of hand up. The American is best known, if at all, for. In A World..., the comedy set in the world of movie trailer voice over artists that she wrote, directed and starred in, which was much admired by reviewers but little seen by real people. She fully rewards the generosity with a beguiling turn. And her British accent isn't just flawless, it is effortless. The only flaw with the film is that she's clearly far too good for him; Pegg's attempts to break from the traditional Hugh Grant romantic hero mode is a bit too David Brent to really charm.
Man Up (12A.)
Directed by Ben Palmer.
Starring Lake Bell, Simon Pegg, Sharon Horgan, Olivia Williams, Ophelia Lovibond, Rory Kinnear and Ken Stott. 88 mins.
Man Up is an interesting proposition – a romcom with real world applications. It has all the improbable and contrived event you associate with the genre but instead of say Jennifer Lopez and Hugh Grant waltzing through them you get two performers who can still fake a passing resemblance to real people.
The Meet Cute is that the pair hook up when he (Pegg) mistakes her (Bell) for the blind date he is due to meet under the clock in Waterloo station and she, sensing a connection, (they share a line of dialogue from Silence of the Lambs) decides to go along and pretend to be the girl he was due to meet, a 24-year-old triathlon enthusiast (Lovibond.) The Meet Contrivance is that she then continues with the pretence long after the moment when it would be easier to just admit the truth.
The film continues the tradition of American actresses starring in British romcoms and doing faultless English accents. But where Paltrow and Zellwegger's presences helped to add box office lustre to their films, in this case the Brits are giving Lake Bell a bit of hand up. The American is best known, if at all, for. In A World..., the comedy set in the world of movie trailer voice over artists that she wrote, directed and starred in, which was much admired by reviewers but little seen by real people. She fully rewards the generosity with a beguiling turn. And her British accent isn't just flawless, it is effortless. The only flaw with the film is that she's clearly far too good for him; Pegg's attempts to break from the traditional Hugh Grant romantic hero mode is a bit too David Brent to really charm.
