‘Man Up’ (2015)

 

“So. Book. Check. And blind date? Check!”

Man Up (Ben Palmer, 2015) is a romantic comedy which follows a man and a woman, Jack (Simon Pegg) and Nancy (Lake Bell) on a fateful afternoon in London.  Jack meets Nancy and mistakes her for his blind date, so Nancy decides to play along to see where it goes, pretending to be Jessica, Jack’s actual date.  The date goes fantastically and the two seem meant for each other, however everything starts to go wrong when Jack realises to his horror that Nancy isn’t Jessica the triathlete, and that she isn’t 24!

I had this movie recommended to me because it was apparently really good, so I thought I’d watch it to see if it actually was and also because I’m a big fan of Simon Pegg.  As it turns out Man Up is a brilliant movie!  I really like the style of it and how it was quite a goofy movie, with both Pegg and Bell playing rather silly but emotionally mixed up characters who don’t seem to have much of a care in the world about how they act around other people and in public.  Jack is desperately trying to get over his recent divorce and the fact that his ex wife had an affair, and Nancy is in her 30s and single, and thinking that she is never going to find the right person and is going to be a single loner forever.  This means that although they don’t realise it at first and that they were never actually meant to go on a date with each other they are perfect for each other, which of course they eventually discover after a very eventful and drunken evening.

I think my favourite character of the whole movie has to be Nancy’s super creepy stalker Sean (Rory Kenner), someone she knew when she was at school and who was infatuated her from the moment he met her, but infatuation seemingly turned into a bit of an unhealthy obsession.  Although Sean is very weird and creepy, even going so far as to have a picture of Nancy’s childhood bedroom in his wallet that he took from climbing up a tree, he kind of brings Nancy and Jack back together.  I say kind of because he takes Jack to her neighbourhood but tells him the wrong house number to get to Nancy first, but when Jack does eventually get there he is seemingly happy for her.  His very over the top and ridiculous obsession with Nancy is just hilarious and adds another element to the film!

The movie of course has a happy ending, but it takes quite a few turns and, tragedies and very funny circumstances  until it actually gets there, which I really like.  I’m not really into RomComs or movies like this, but I really liked this movie and thought it was great!