Disc Reviews

Man Up Review

• 20th Sep 2015

Brian Palmer’s (The Inbetweeners Movie) rom-com Man Up is somewhat misleadingly titled. Although it could be argued that both Simon Pegg’s and Lake Bell’s characters need to man up (he is pining after his ex-wife, she has been single since a messy break-up four years earlier), it is very much the female lead and her perspective that dominate this charming film.

Man Up tells the story of 34-year-old Nancy who has been set up on a date at her friends’ engagement party. Pep-talked by her sister (and herself) into “putting herself out there” and “embracing life” – the last thing Nancy wants to do – she ends up meeting a guy who evidently isn’t Mr Right. Awkward is the word. So off she goes (still single) on a train to London for her parents’ 40^th wedding anniversary (Ken Stott and Harriet Walter are adorable). At Waterloo station she gets side-tracked: 40-year-old Jack (Pegg) mistakes her for his 24-year-old blind date and rather than immediately set the record straight, Nancy decides on a whim to just go with it. Naturally, things don’t continue smoothly from there. On the ensuing London bar crawl, Nancy and Jack run into Sean, an old classmate of hers who has harboured an obsessive crush for twenty years. Rory Kinnear makes for a wonderfully creepy stalker who not only used to take photos of Nancy in her bedroom from a tree outside her house but also tries to extort sexual favours from her by threatening to expose her true identity to Jack. Which happens anyway, by accident. The early revelation that Nancy isn’t Jack’s actual date is far from the end, however, as the two of them are forced to stick together to retrieve a lost man-bag (Jack’s) and a sketchbook (Nancy’s), running into Jack’s estranged wife (Olivia Williams) in the process. Hilarity, ludicrousness but also some genuinely lovely moments ensue.

The film has its weaknesses. It doesn’t seem to be able to quite make up its mind about whether it wants to be a farce or a Romcom, perhaps as a result of the attempt at openly tackling the clichés of the genre, expressed by the cast and crew in the making-of that is one of the DVD specials. If Man Up had simply held back on moments that are so bloated with ridicule that they cease to be funny, it would have worked better. And the way in which it makes light of Sean’s obvious sexual harassment of Nancy is actually a little bit worrying. Still, Man Up’s strengths mostly make up for its shortcomings. Tess Morris’ script is a pleasant surprise: funny, clever and impressively witty with genuinely likeable and believable characters. Not only is there real chemistry between Bell and Pegg. All actors truly go for it, tackling even the most ludicrous moments with earnestness and great comic timing. Especially Rory Kinnear threatens to steal every scene he is in. However, it is the quiet and awkward moments at which the film truly excels.

In addition to a 40-minute making-of featurette DVD, extras include an interview with Simon Pegg and Lake Bell which thankfully diverts from the usual, pretentious waffle these things often disintegrate into. Bell’s observation that “we didn’t answer anything properly” is quite correct which is exactly what makes this 4-minute extra fun to watch. The blooper real isn’t the funniest one out there but it further ads to the sense that everyone involved had a fun time making this film – something that definitely comes across on screen. Fans of any of the actors and those interested in a behind-the-scenes look at the production will enjoy both the film and the extras. For everyone else, Man Up may not, as the promotional material suggests, be “the best British rom-com in years” but if you’re a fan of the genre and don’t mind a bit of quirkiness, this slightly sociopathic two-hander is definitely for you.

Anne Korn