Written by Asia Martin
The romantic comedy for the younger millennials has arrived and it stars three of its generation’s, if not hot, then cutest guys to grace the silver screen. Mikey (Michael B. Jordan of Fruitvale Station), Jason (Zac Efron) and Daniel (Miles Teller of Rabbit Hole) are three pals who attempt to avoid the awkward dating question “So … where is this going?” by naively making a pact to stay single until their 30s. Their agreement goes out the window as two of the wingman get taken out by Cupid’s arrow.
That Awkward Moment is simply funny and cute. It’s pretty much 90 minutes of Buzzfeed content. The guys figuring out how to get their pee into the toilet bowl while on Viagra, coming up with endless ways to describe a brown penis covered in tanning lotion and punning a strap-on penis falling into someone’s martini as a cocktail are crudely funny. Jason wooing his love interest, played by Imogen Poots (28 Weeks Later), and Daniel expressing his realization of how much he likes his best friend (Mackenzie Davis of Smashed) and faithful Mikey wallowing over his divorce from his wife Vera, played by Jessica Lewis (Cloverfield) is cute. But that’s all it is.
I enjoyed the set up and the deliveries and watching hot guys be adorable, but the plot wasn’t thorough and compared to romantic comedies before That Awkward Moment, it was missing much needed substance. That’s either because the film desperately needed more typical-guy-friendly scenes to balance out the cuteness and romance or its an indicator that millennials have no real depth yet.
Mikey’s divorce wasn’t convincing whatsoever because the marriage wasn’t convincing. Jordan and Lewis’ characters were basically two good-looking people rooming together in the film, the arguments between them were so opaque and bleak. The only things that were convincing were Jason and Daniel as best buds and the romance between Jason and Ellie (Poots).
The women in the film didn’t fit the traditional archetype, which made me adjust my mind a bit but it was refreshing to see. They were realistically beautiful, awkward and very much the urban hipsters of New York, which was the complete opposite of the Hollywood men. Their appeal and presence added to the small portion of substance that existed.
That Awkward Moment is an okay movie to see, I enjoyed its humor and look book appeal. However, I wouldn’t spend another dime on seeing it because it’s title is not only no longer trending, but it is undermined by the unmatched direction of the storyline.
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