I had great hopes for Man Up from the minute I saw the trailer. I love romantic comedies, and if they’re set in London then more the better. I also absolutely adore Simon Pegg and find Lake Bell to be pretty brilliant too. The story of Man Up is one pretty much designed for me. A single woman? Check. In her early thirties? Check. Cynical with real problems meeting men? Definitely check. And although I allowed myself to feel a little trepidation that this film might not live up to my expectations, in the end I am pleased to say it more than fulfilled them.
Tess Morris, I Salute You
I watch a lot of films and very rarely do I feel as if they are representing the real world. While I was prepared for Man Up to be a formulaic romantic comedy, I was not prepared for the incredible writing of Tess Morris. In this film, Morris has done what many scriptwriters would probably dream of: she has managed to present a feel-good romantic comedy, but also one with all the texture of a real world scenario.
Man Up, by its nature, is a very straight forward mistaken identity romantic comedy. Nancy (Lake Bell) is a cynical single woman who is accosted by Jack (Simon Pegg) at Waterloo train station, who mistakes her for his blind date. Of course, she lies to him and they end up spending the evening together. Before Nancy’s lie is exposed, of course.
Added to this is the usual list of romcom clichés: The run-in with an ex, the happy parents, the crazy stalker who wants to upset things. But in this film, they don’t feel like clichés at all. People do lie to their exes to make them jealous, and they do enlist the help of drunken teenagers; so while I watched the film unfold I realised how tantalisingly close film can get to the real world.
But it is within this main, somewhat predictable narrative that Morris truly makes waves. She has successfully curtailed obvious romcom stereotypes; Nancy might be a bit odd but she’s certainly no flighty romantic, Jack is a sensitive male but is passionate with it. Morris’ writing is insightful and sharp – she knows when to take pauses, and when to create fights. Indeed, the way in which Nancy and Jack rail against each other is as important as their burgeoning romance.
Nancy and Jack are a romantic couple for our brave and jaded new world. Their deep longing for one another is confused with their idea of what they think they should have or deserve. Added to this is their own sense of grief that love is only out to hurt them. In their arguments, we see a passionate display of what it means to want something and be too afraid to fight for it. In her writing Morris has created a beautifully unique romantic couple, and one which feels as close to the real world as one could get without tainting the escapism of the romantic comedy.
The Adorable Lake & Simon
As much as I love Simon Pegg, it had never really occurred to me to see him as a romantic lead. In Man Up, though, he excels. He is awkward and sweet, but never panders to some idea of the weak romantic male. Indeed, Pegg’s ability to be both the steely adversary and the hopeless hero is what makes him a perfect romantic lead, and I hope to see more of the same from him in the future.
Lake Bell (with a spot-on English accent) is the perfect casting for Nancy. She is an incredibly funny actress, but also imbues Nancy with a great sense of depth. The hopelessness that lies behind her eyes is heartbreaking, and the tension in the scene where she returns to the bar after she and Jack have fought, is palpable. Pegg & Bell’s chemistry is astounding, and together they create a great sense of fun while also conveying a rich atmosphere of longing. Watching them together was an absolute delight.
The Future Ben Palmer
I had not heard of Ben Palmer before seeing Man Up and I doubt much of the world has either. Palmer has spent much of his directing career working across British TV comedy, with his one and only foray into feature films being 2011’s The Inbetweeners Movie. That being said, had I registered this fact before hand (it’s in the trailer for goodness sake!), I would have been even more optimistic about Man Up. The Inbetweeners Movie is an excellent comedy and I do urge you to watch it if you haven’t already.
Palmer clearly has an impressive flair for directing comedy, and I foresee an excellent future for him as a comedy director. Apart from comic timing, he has an excellent understanding of how people really move and interact. Even something as small as people taking out their wallets as they approach a bar. This is something everyone does, but it never happens in a film, and why is that?
But it is in the emotion that Palmer manages to thread through the comedy that he really shows his worth: the looks on the faces of Jack and Nancy as they realise they are clicking, Nancy registering the fact that Jack is complimenting her, the way Jack pulls in Nancy for a kiss on her cheek. It all feels very real and just pulls you further in to Nancy and Jack’s world.
The Detail Is In The Britishness
People the world over have seen London on romantic comedy form time and time again, mainly due to the writing of Richard Curtis. But for the first time, here, it felt quite real. Everything from Nancy’s baguette on the train, to Jessica’s telling Jack about her A in A’ Level Art, to drinks on the South Bank. It felt like our London, my London in fact. Through a combination of Morris’ writing and Palmer’s direction, Man Up treats the audience to a more authentic version of the British romantic comedy but without ever having to get so real as to blow the lid off our fantasy.
It would be remiss of me not to mention the plethora of excellent British actors that also appear in Man Up. Rory Kinnear (Black Mirror) goes against type to play the creepy Sean, while Sharon Horgan (Catastrophe) plays it straight as Nancy’s sister. Olivia Williams (Dollhouse) and Stephen Campbell Moore (The Wrong Mans) surprise us in small roles as Jack’s ex and her boyfriend. Even young Dean-Charles Chapman (Ripper Street) turns up in the final scenes. This incredible casting is due in no small part to Man Up’s excellent team of producers who, between them, have backed some of the greatest British films of the last decade (most notably Pegg & Wright’s ‘Cornetto Trilogy’).
Conclusion
I have tried hard to find fault in Man Up. I’ve gone over the clichés in my head, the cheeriness of it, the predictable romcom scrapes that the characters get themselves into, all while trying to find something to dislike about them. But I can’t. Had this film been devoid of romantic comedy cliché and had just been a straightforward indie film I would have loved it. But without the physical comedy, without the jokes, and without the eccentric characters it would have not have given me as much joy.
I fight, time and time again to get people to recognise the romantic comedy as an original and worthwhile genre, but my arguments fall on deaf ears, that is unless I can offer one sterling example. Man Up is one of those examples. It is real and it is fantastical, it is insightful and it is cheesy, it is romantic and it is funny. It is everything a romantic comedy could and should be, and I fervently hope you see through the folly of my own subjectivity and give Man Up a try. Because it is a brilliant film and a film you all deserve to enjoy.
N.B. Had I written The 10 Greatest Romantic Comedies after seeing Man Up, it would have at least made the top 5.
Have you seen Man Up? What did you think?
(top image source: Saban Films)
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