Review: That Awkward Moment

Image courtesy of Focus Features.

It's a little unclear to which awkward moment the title of this new comedy, which clearly aims for a mixture of schmaltz and low brow humor in the vein of the "American Pie" films, refers.

But no matter. Here's a movie that is fueled solely on screenplay cliches of how males and females of a certain age act when it comes to matters of love. As portrayed here, men are afraid to feel emotion and settle down, opting instead to sleep around with as many women as possible before realizing they live a shallow existence and deciding to do the thing they originally dreaded after all. And women, according to this movie, just want to settle down, beginning their conversations of a serious matter with men by saying, "So..."

For those of you who have made it this far, I can only assume that the aforementioned movie cliches potentially haven't turned you off toward "That Awkward Moment." So, to be fair, the film is not as bad as many others of its type, which is not to say that it's good.

It's occasionally fun to watch the cast if for no other reason than to think back fondly on their previously more substantial work - that is, Miles Teller, who gave such a sincere performance in last year's "The Spectacular Now," and Michael B. Jordan, who was so great in "Fruitvale Station" and on "The Wire."

Here, they - as well as Zac Efron and Imogen Poots - are mostly wasted, forced to rattle off numerous jokes involving male genitalia, prostitution, sexual acts and - let's not forget that old comedic goldmine - poop.

Basically, you could do a whole lot worse than "That Awkward Moment." But, c'mon people, let's set the bar higher in 2014. I have yet to recommend a comedy this year to see instead of this one, but the year is still young. There's got to be something a little more fresh than this one coming down the pike.