That Awkward Moment

Immature young men meets romantic comedy. These ingredients aren't always a combination in films, but more so than not, they do seem to be coupled in many of them. Case in point: we have this combo and are asked to laugh at their hijinks, screw-ups and pitfalls when it comes to having any sort of relationships with the opposite sex in the new comedy, "That Awkward Moment".

This story centers on three best friends-- Jason, Daniel and Mikey (Zac Efron, Miles Teller and Michael B. Jordan) respectively who finds themselves where we've all been-- at that confusing 'moment' in every dating relationship when you have to decide, "so... where is this going?"
You see, they all have been dumped by their respective girlfriends, and where normally one could feel bad about their situation, turns out to be a film where the audience finds it increasingly difficult to feel bad for these guys more and more as the film progresses because of their superficiality. And even though their girlfriends, Ellie, Chelsea and Vera (Imogen Poots, Mackenzie Davis and Jessica Lucas) respectively are not totally together themselves, I can see where they might have a problem with these three guys when they clearly have no idea what it takes to start and continue a relationship. Sound familiar?

This film was written and directed by Tom Gormican, and even though this is his first attempt at writing and directing films, he has a lot more to learn when it comes to a taught cohesive script. He had too much of a difficult time maneuvering his actors from place to place so as to show enough continuity as far as his audience went. His directing wasn't terrible, it just wasn't great, but, again, considering this is his first film, I believe more work would be just what the doctor ordered to get this guy in a higher gear. This may be difficult considering he chose an industry which isn't patient for filmmakers to get better, so he may not have the chance. The guy does have potential, he just chose a tired, saturated genre to survive in.

If you like rom coms, you'll like this no matter how it's presented, but even though these actors have proven themselves in other acting projects, not even they can save a film that's clearly based in sandy soil as opposed to rock.

Out of 4 Stars: 2                            Rated: R                             94mins.