Chris Knipp
02-02-2014, 04:44 PM
Tom Gomican: That Awkward Moment (2014)
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MILES TELLER, MICHAEL B. JORDAN AND ZAC EFRON IN THAT AWKWARD MOMENT
Bromance vs. romance
"Not so bad" is all you can say for Tom Gomican's new movie, That Awkward Moment, which he wrote and directed. It's set in New York City, and stars three young actors, Zac Efron, the teen heartthrob, along with emerging young stars Miles Teller of The Spectacular Now and Michael B. Jordan of Fruitvale Station. It also features the up-and-coming British actress Imogen Poots (very appealing here), and Mackenzie Davis and Jessica Lucas, so each of the boys has a girl, though they're secondary in this celebration of male ego that punctures it just a little bit. The theme is that when Mikey (Jordan) learns his wife wants to divorce him and marry a lawyer, his unmarried college pals Daniel (Teller) and Jason (Efron), led by Jason, pledge to comfort and distract him by thumbing their noses at even the most minimal level of fidelity and having a last big long twenty-something fling celebrating commitment-free sex and glued together by weekly bouts of bromance and carousing. To be avoided is the "awkward moment" when the woman says "So?" meaning "Where is this going?" and tacitly demanding that they begin dating and consider a monogamous relationship. That's a signal for the boy to run. Even "dating" is a dirty word. Actually dirty words abound, as the appeal to males and generational liberation includes a limited, Hangover-style vocabulary. The catch is that all three get involved, or re-involved, with attractive ladies (the actresses named above) but hide the fact from their buddies, till it comes out.
When the New York Times critic, Stephen Holden, calls That Awkward Moment a "vile, witless sex comedy," he's showing his age a bit (he is 72) but also showing he's a critic. Technically this movie isn't very funny or cleverly constructed, and its obvious conclusions aren't arrived at with any kind of flourish. It's really not clear at the end whether any of the three guys has changed or come to any realization. They just admit to each other that they were, in fact, dating. Daniel really likes the posh Chelsea (Davis), Mikey is getting back with his wife Vera (Lucas), and Jason has deeply offended and alienated Ellie (Potts) by avoiding her father's funeral to show his independence, and acts out a flashy public gesture (a staple of this kind of rom-com) to gain her forgiveness. But none of the three guys has shown us or himself that he is anything but shallow and immature.
Awkward's vocabulary seems to consist largely of "fuck," "asshole," "hooker," and "awesome" and it's a little sad to those of us from earlier generations to think this may play well with the girlish rom-com crowd. But what's more offensive, or at least not winning, is how dumbed down the characterization of this triumvirate is, even by Judd Apatow standards. It's ironic that one might be led to think Miles Teller and Michael B. Jordan, who both appeared in celebrated and interesting indie films last year, playing truly complex roles, might be considered to have "arrived" because they were cast to play with the bland Zac Efron, whose efforts to play in serious films have been mixed at best. Is this "the big time"? And if so is "the big time" worth it? In their scenes Teller adds a little spark and spunk and Jordan contributes some ease and maturity (after all, he's the married one, with the professional job), but this subtlety seems wasted.
This movie plays with conventional elements of farce, notably the final revelation that all three have been playing wild when they've been settling down behind each other's backs. Another key moment comes when Jason and Mikey discover Daniel and Chelsea about to have sex in a shower at a fancy party at Chelsea's parents' house. If I understood correctly, this reveals Daniel in a breach of the pact because it means he's more involved with Chelsea than he's let on. The trouble with the comic moments isn't that they're crude, like the running joke about residual bathroom odor or Jason's wearing a long dildo to Ellie's dressy birthday party, but that they fall so flat.
That Awkward Moment functions more as a demographic-spanner, if it works. In a pitch to buyers, it sounds like a good idea, and that's probably why it got made. Its aim obviously is to blend the elements of the romantic comedy with those of a Hangover-style buddy picture. Jason, Daniel and Mikey are being forced to grow up, as they must do to have a meaningful relationship (i.e. not just sex without commitment) with a woman. The clincher comes when at the end, for the very last word -- and this is the movie's cleverest, most pointed, even somewhat touching, moment -- Jason is the one who says: "So?" But how much can you say for a movie that becomes clever and a little bit tender only in its final line? The studio's assumption that all you have to do is to appeal to crossover demographics has paid off, up to a point, since this movie is at #3 rank in the first weekend of its US run, screening at 2,809 theaters, and has already made a million dollars over its low production cost.
That Awkward Moment, 94 mins., opened wide in US theaters 31 January 2014 and two days before in the UK.
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/856/kmgu.jpg
MILES TELLER, MICHAEL B. JORDAN AND ZAC EFRON IN THAT AWKWARD MOMENT
Bromance vs. romance
"Not so bad" is all you can say for Tom Gomican's new movie, That Awkward Moment, which he wrote and directed. It's set in New York City, and stars three young actors, Zac Efron, the teen heartthrob, along with emerging young stars Miles Teller of The Spectacular Now and Michael B. Jordan of Fruitvale Station. It also features the up-and-coming British actress Imogen Poots (very appealing here), and Mackenzie Davis and Jessica Lucas, so each of the boys has a girl, though they're secondary in this celebration of male ego that punctures it just a little bit. The theme is that when Mikey (Jordan) learns his wife wants to divorce him and marry a lawyer, his unmarried college pals Daniel (Teller) and Jason (Efron), led by Jason, pledge to comfort and distract him by thumbing their noses at even the most minimal level of fidelity and having a last big long twenty-something fling celebrating commitment-free sex and glued together by weekly bouts of bromance and carousing. To be avoided is the "awkward moment" when the woman says "So?" meaning "Where is this going?" and tacitly demanding that they begin dating and consider a monogamous relationship. That's a signal for the boy to run. Even "dating" is a dirty word. Actually dirty words abound, as the appeal to males and generational liberation includes a limited, Hangover-style vocabulary. The catch is that all three get involved, or re-involved, with attractive ladies (the actresses named above) but hide the fact from their buddies, till it comes out.
When the New York Times critic, Stephen Holden, calls That Awkward Moment a "vile, witless sex comedy," he's showing his age a bit (he is 72) but also showing he's a critic. Technically this movie isn't very funny or cleverly constructed, and its obvious conclusions aren't arrived at with any kind of flourish. It's really not clear at the end whether any of the three guys has changed or come to any realization. They just admit to each other that they were, in fact, dating. Daniel really likes the posh Chelsea (Davis), Mikey is getting back with his wife Vera (Lucas), and Jason has deeply offended and alienated Ellie (Potts) by avoiding her father's funeral to show his independence, and acts out a flashy public gesture (a staple of this kind of rom-com) to gain her forgiveness. But none of the three guys has shown us or himself that he is anything but shallow and immature.
Awkward's vocabulary seems to consist largely of "fuck," "asshole," "hooker," and "awesome" and it's a little sad to those of us from earlier generations to think this may play well with the girlish rom-com crowd. But what's more offensive, or at least not winning, is how dumbed down the characterization of this triumvirate is, even by Judd Apatow standards. It's ironic that one might be led to think Miles Teller and Michael B. Jordan, who both appeared in celebrated and interesting indie films last year, playing truly complex roles, might be considered to have "arrived" because they were cast to play with the bland Zac Efron, whose efforts to play in serious films have been mixed at best. Is this "the big time"? And if so is "the big time" worth it? In their scenes Teller adds a little spark and spunk and Jordan contributes some ease and maturity (after all, he's the married one, with the professional job), but this subtlety seems wasted.
This movie plays with conventional elements of farce, notably the final revelation that all three have been playing wild when they've been settling down behind each other's backs. Another key moment comes when Jason and Mikey discover Daniel and Chelsea about to have sex in a shower at a fancy party at Chelsea's parents' house. If I understood correctly, this reveals Daniel in a breach of the pact because it means he's more involved with Chelsea than he's let on. The trouble with the comic moments isn't that they're crude, like the running joke about residual bathroom odor or Jason's wearing a long dildo to Ellie's dressy birthday party, but that they fall so flat.
That Awkward Moment functions more as a demographic-spanner, if it works. In a pitch to buyers, it sounds like a good idea, and that's probably why it got made. Its aim obviously is to blend the elements of the romantic comedy with those of a Hangover-style buddy picture. Jason, Daniel and Mikey are being forced to grow up, as they must do to have a meaningful relationship (i.e. not just sex without commitment) with a woman. The clincher comes when at the end, for the very last word -- and this is the movie's cleverest, most pointed, even somewhat touching, moment -- Jason is the one who says: "So?" But how much can you say for a movie that becomes clever and a little bit tender only in its final line? The studio's assumption that all you have to do is to appeal to crossover demographics has paid off, up to a point, since this movie is at #3 rank in the first weekend of its US run, screening at 2,809 theaters, and has already made a million dollars over its low production cost.
That Awkward Moment, 94 mins., opened wide in US theaters 31 January 2014 and two days before in the UK.