That Awkward Moment (2014)

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Genre : Comedy
Country : US

Cast :
Zac Efron : Jason
Miles Teller : Daniel
Michael B. Jordan : Mickey

Director :
Tom Gormican

Alternative title: Are We Officially Dating?

Summary
Jason has just been dumped, but he didn't even realize they were going out. Meanwhile, Mikey's wife has just asked him for a divorce, and perpetually single Daniel is still single. The three best friends are determined to stay single together and just have fun. But then Jason meets Ellie who just might be perfect for him, Daniel starts to realize that his gal pal Chelsea might be perfect for him, and Mikey has always thought that his wife was perfect for him. The boys are going to have to juggle their single life with their romantic entanglements and it's going to get awkward.

My opinion

“We'll use a coupon and get him a cheap hooker.”

Occasionally I feel like watching a comedy. I don't even mind if there's some romance in it. A movie to watch while lying down on a cozy seat in a lazy relaxing way, with a ridiculous big bowl of popcorn on your bulging belly, hoping that it'll be flung off while viewing the selected comedy. The more the bowl rolls of your belly, the better the movie. That's a sign that there's quite a lot to laugh about. In "The Awkward Moment" you can be sure that the bowl only leaves a circular print on your stomach, because there's not much to laugh about in it. And I doubt whether the level of romance is high enough to call this a romantic comedy. Or romance means to you : having someone who you are dangling an artificial carrot in front of when it's about your relation and in the meantime maintain some nice looking members of the female sex on the sideline.

Jason (Zac Efron), Daniel (Miles Teller) and Mikey (Michael B. Jordan) are three close friends from New York. One day Mikey tells them the news that his wife Vera (Jessica Lucas) was waiting at home for him with a lawyer and coolly announced that she wants a divorce. The lawyer is also the guy she has an affair with and the one she's leaving him for. The three make an agreement to remain single forever and just go on with the art of conquering female beauty. Jason is the one with the least problem with that, since this is his life's motto anyway, and he claims that a relationship comes to an end, as soon as the partner starts asking questions about where their relationship is actually going to. It turns out that they aren't really able to keep up this promise and they start to jump through hoops just to keep it hidden for the partners in crime.

So it's clearly a totally predictable, used several times and all but funny subject. Most scenes were far from hilarious, let alone funny and gave me repeatedly vicarious shame. Or you are of a certain age and you wish you'd be in such a situation. And you also love toilet humor. You would laugh about the endless remarks about someone taking a crap, colored penises and sometimes vulgar sexist banal humor. In any case it didn't impress me. I couldn't even smile about it.

There were also some appalling unreal situations. The fact that Jason runs away in panic after the first night with Ellie (Imogen Poots), who by the way has a nose that could be used as an over sized coat rack, because he saw evidence from which he could conclude that she could be a prostitute, is one thing. But he can explain the whole matter afterwards to Ellie and still get away with it. That sounds really unlikely to me. "Oh yeah, I saw an envelope with money and those boots next to the bed. I was sure you were a hooker. Isn't that funny ? Hahahaha. What a hilarious situation .... ". I am sure that most women would give you a big smack with their supermassive Gucci handbag after hearing this miserable excuse so it leaves a crocodile motif on your face for weeks. And the fact that Mikey's wife starts messing around because he's not spontaneous enough, is in a way understandable. But it's amazing how quickly she changes her tack after being jumped on by him in the hospital. Later she admits that she no longer loves him and is still seeing the lawyer while Mikey had the impression that he was saving his marriage. You could see that coming from afar. Apparently Mikey isn't such a spontaneous sports freak in bed afterall.

There was only one funny moment because of a simple misunderstanding. That's when Jason appears on Ellie's party in a fairly compromising outfit. The biggest part of this movie is filled with irritating drivel, childish one-liners which humorous content is nil, straight dumb sex and ongoing consumption of alcoholic beverages. A future womanizer and Casanova could make use of this flick to bring his seduction techniques to perfection and make notes of the empty idle flattery and smooth talks. There were quite a few awkward moments for me in "The awkward moment".