mrschristine.com

Man Up

Published January 22, 2016

Man Up

Film info

  • Title Man Up
  • Director Ben Palmer
  • Year 2015
  • Run time 1hr 28m
  • Genres Comedy, Romance
  • Tagline If you can't get a date... just steal one!

When Nancy (Lake Bell) is mistaken for Jack’s (Simon Pegg) blind date under the clock at Waterloo Station, she decides to take fate into her own hands and just go with it. What could possibly go wrong? Man Up is an honest, heart-warming romantic comedy about taking chances and rolling with the consequences. One night, two people, on a first date like no other...

Live blog

Time Comment
3:12 “It’s Ryan right? Not Ryan Wright. Mr Wright.”
5:32 Lake Bell and Sharon Horgan would be the best sisters ever.
6:58 Her mantras are basically my life list. Eek!
13:03 Da Vinci code smackdown.
16:13 Hannibal Lector impression on your first date. Perfect.
21:07 This awkward first date chatter is amazing but also awful!
21:45 “It wasn’t that big.. of a deal.”
28:34 I didn’t realise the 5:2 diet was about Nesquik, I’m on it!
32:34 Loving the red wine sofa and the white wine sofa. Need!
40:07 Top Gear race in the middle of a film.
47:38 “I’m gonna wait and see what’s actually happened, before I pass judgement.” Well, where would Hollywood be if everyone did that?
58:44 Over her baggage allowance. Ha.
59:28 Things you don’t think about modern relationships - shared iTunes accounts!
1:10:34 Oh my, the fact she’s happy about it breaks my heart! In a good way.
1:17:06 24 year old triathlete. He’s the one doing all the running!

Conclusions

After the last Simon Pegg fiasco, we were hoping this one would be a slightly better affair. It was! It gets going straight away, plunging you into the world of lovely Lake Bell, or Nancy as she is in this. Or Jessica, as she is pretending to be. It’s not as confusing as it sounds.

When Pegg shows up, the fast talking kicks in and there are a lot of jokes crammed in to a short space of time. It’s sometimes hard to keep up, but that just means we’ll have to rewatch it again at least once. Overall, it’s a great story, different to the normal boy meets girl thing, and taking some unique twists and turns along the way.

I loved that the actual Jessica was really supportive once the truth came out, so nice to have happiness instead of bitterness. Lake’s accent was flawless, I’m in love with Sharon Horgan, and their parents were just wonderful together.

I really enjoyed it, and it was a refreshing take on the rom-com genre. Well done Pegg, you pulled it back!

Rating: 5/5.

Rating: 5 / 5

← Previous Straight Outta Compton
Next → The Diary of a Teenage Girl