That Awkward Moment is not a great movie. In fact, it's not even a good movie. It's a bad movie that is just fun to watch. It doesn't blow you away, it doesn't change hearts and minds, and you'll likely forget what happens in it immediately after watching it. But while you're watching it, it's funny with a great cast. I mean you have the comedic triangle of Zac Efron, Michael B. Jordan, and Miles Teller, who have really great chemistry together any time they're on screen, whether it's a comedic moment or a more dramatic one, and you also have Mackenzie Davis, who is pretty funny too, among others.
So the basic plot of the story is that Jason, played by Zac Efron and his girlfriend break up because Jason isn't ready to settle down, though according to his narration, he didn't even know that he and his girlfriend were dating. Meanwhile Mikey, played by Michael B. Jordan, and his wife split up because she's been sleeping with another man, and she wants a divorce. Then there's Daniel, played by Miles Teller, who hangs out in bars and picks up women with the help of his friend, Chelsea, played by Mackenzie Davis. The three guys are friends who met in college and Jason and Daniel are book cover designers. One night when the guys are out, Jason meets Ellie, a woman who ends up being a client of the company that Jason and Daniel work at. The guys had promised that until Mikey was ready, none of them would get into another relationship. Well that doesn't last long because not only does Jason fall in love with Ellie, but Daniel falls for Chelsea and they each get into a relationship. And then the movie goes on from there.
I think that I, along with a lot of other people really underestimated Zac Efron's acting abilities. Which is no surprise since he started out in High School Musical. So of course most people were going to write him off unless they were a teenage girl when that movie came out in 2006. Though those of us who are Sci-Fi fans and have seen it, know that Zac appeared in an episode of Firefly as the child version of Simon all the way back in 2002. But to the public at large, Zac's career started with High School Musical and so we all wrote him off. He's good in this movie though. Like really good. Zac's got some great comedic timing. For example, there's a scene where Jason is having sex with a girl named Alana, played by Addison Timlin, who he's Friends with Benefits with, and Mikey walks in on them. He doesn't even stop, he just talks to a flustered Mikey, who's embarrassed that he walked in on his friend having sex, and after the conversation he's just like, "Hey Mikey, could you close the door?" as if nothing ever happened, even though we all know it did.
Michael B. Jordan is another actor who really impressed me with his acting range. While I was watching this movie last night I completely forgot that he'd played Killmonger in Black Panther, because Mikey is the complete opposite of Killmonger in every respect. Very few actors can go from playing a character like Mikey, to playing one of the most memorable antagonists in the history of comic book and superhero movies and pull it off believably. Somehow Michael pulled it off beautifully, even though I saw That Awkward Moment AFTER I saw Black Panther.
This is my first time seeing Miles Teller in anything. I know he played Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic in Fantastic Four in 2015, and was in The Spectacular Now in 2013, but I haven't seen those movies or anything else he's been in. He's a decent actor, but I honestly feel like he was under utilized in this movie. Most of the focus is on Jason and Ellie, and Mikey and Vera, and so I felt like the Daniel and Chelsea plot wasn't done justice. I understand that the movie was about the three guys and their respective relationships, but I just felt that Daniel and Chelsea's plot was just pushed aside and wrapped up quickly.
Which brings me to Mackenzie Davis and her small role as Chelsea in this movie. So when I was watching the movie, and Chelsea first appeared on screen, I recognized her immediately. Or I thought I did. It turns out that Mackenzie Davis played Adam Driver's girlfriend, Nicole in the 2014 Rom Com, What If, called The F Word here in Canada, AND was in The Martian in 2015 as a satellite technician in Mission Control. Both are movies that I saw in theatres relatively early in their theatrical runs. Considering I've only seen each movie once, saw them a long time ago, and haven't seen Mackenzie in anything else since then, I'm kind of amazed that I recognized her when she appeared on screen. Again, I wish that Chelsea and Daniel had had more screen time together than they did in the movie. Their relationship could've been an entire movie of it's own, and I suspect that at least one of the earlier drafts of the script for this movie had more of their relationship in it. Though there's no way to confirm it since IMDB and Wikipedia don't have any information on it.
My favourite scene in the movie is a simple one. The guys are hanging out in Jason's apartment, playing Xbox, and Ellie, played by Imogen Poots, comes over. She starts playing with Mikey and Daniel and Jason watches them from the kitchen, which is behind the couch, because that's where kitchens usually are in homes in movies and TV shows, and Ellie turns back to look at him and smiles, and he smiles back. I know, it's sappy, but it's moments like that that I can connect to no matter what the situation around it is. It's the simplicity of having someone you really care about turn to you, and without a word tell you they're having a good time. Especially during a high stress situation like they're meeting your friends or family for the first time.
Final Thoughts and Rating: As I said at the beginning of the review, this isn't a great movie. It's not even a good movie. It is, however, an entertaining movie that was fun to watch, but is ultimately forgettable and there are many movies in this genre that are way better than this one is. The cast is awesome and it's worth checking out. I wouldn't buy it on DVD or Blu-ray. At most it's a movie to buy on iTunes for $5. It's also on Netflix and that's where I watched it. I'm giving That Awkward Moment 3/10 stars, simply because the cast was awesome, but the movie wasn't great.
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