K-SCORE: 39
Director: Jim Field Smith
Writer: Sean Anders, John Morris
Starring: Jay Baruchel, Alison Eve, Mike Vogel, T.J. Miller, Krysten Ritter, Nate Torrence
Spoiler Level: Minor
As a relentless and deeply depressing picture about the failures of airport security and the deadbeat people who work for the TSA, She’s Out of My League is truly difficult to endure. While documenting the ineffectiveness of the organization and the hypocrisy of its members, the film also poses the important question: what do we do with these people? They are the dregs of our society, the scum of our world. They demand that we follow illogical rules, submit to gate rape, surrender our bottles of water and shampoo alongside our dignity, despite their 100% fail rate for stopping terrorists. Of course the illusion of security is little more than a cheaply made sign providing a reason by which we are meant to forfeit our freedoms, for the actual reason for their existence is to create an organization accountable to no one, croniest, and useless that supports these kinds of people played by the likes of Jay Baruchel and T.J. Miller in this bleak semi-comedy.
Though I applaud She’s Out of my League for tackling this admittedly challenging subject matter, I can’t help but be confused by the conclusion it draws. When these government employees abuse their power by harassing people just trying to make their flights simply because of how they look, nothing bad becomes of them. When they skip security protocols themselves and use the airport they’ve turned into a Phantom Tollbooth-esque hellscape as their personal playground, they’re viewed as champions of friendship. They’re wicked people. Men who rate women on a scale of 1 to 10 should receive lashes inversely proportional to the ratings they give, each and every time they engage in this vile practice. Yet in this story, they’re praised for their camaraderie and brotherly love. And, most confusingly, one such TSA agent is rewarded in the film with the endless, illogical affection of a beautiful, kind, and successful woman working productively in private industry. Is the whole thing little more than a dissertation on how there’s no justice in our nation and how life is cruel and unfair? If so, the film’s light-hearted tone is odd.
And even if the writer and director were going for that kind of message, I can’t give She’s Out of My League too much credit because it certainly got a little lost when significant screen time was devoted to showing one character shaving another’s balls.