Hi °C | Lo °C Kingsley Amis used to divide lookers and non-lookers into "smashers" and "duffers". In this American romcom, wouldn't you know, it's boiled down to numbers.
Kirk (Jay Baruchel), a meek, thoughtful fellow, is a security screener at Pittsburgh airport; when he finds and returns a lost mobile phone to Molly (Alice Eve), a blonde events organiser, she invites him on a date. Woah! Molly is a "10", Kirk is a "5", and, according to his mates, you can never jump more than two points in acquiring a girlfriend.
So the film works out, sometimes amusingly, how Kirk tries to win Molly's heart, just by virtue of being decent, modest and vulnerable: is that really the secret of how potato-faced blokes end up with attractive women? The film does not struggle overmuch against the lure of cliche and convention, but in Baruchel it has a charming study in self- effacement that other romcoms could learn from.
