That Awkward Moment

This romantic comedy starring Zac Efron, Miles Teller and Michael B. Jordan has a promising start. It actually plays like a cool throwback to the romantic/sex comedies of the '80s for its opening, until somewhere around the mid point of the movie. Then it takes a drastic downward turn towards comedic Hades and becomes a total garbage party. This ensemble of decent-to-great actors play Jason, Daniel and Mikey (Efron, Teller and Jordan respectively) as some New York City-dwelling 20-somethings dealing with modern day romance in a time of Facebook, texting and infidelity. When Mikey finds out his wife is cheating and he's heading for divorce, the other two join him in a pact to avoid relationships and stay single. It's dating and debauchery for the three, with no commitments allowed. Is there a distinct moment where this film goes tragically bad? I'm not exactly sure, but I'd wager a guess it would be the moment when Efron shows up dressed as “Rock Out with Your Cock Out!” for a cocktail party. This is a moment so jarringly stupid, so unrelentingly inane, that think the actors got whiplash from the violent tonal shift. To bad, because the actors have a hint of comic chemistry, and Imogen Poots is sweet as Efron's love interest. The fatal flaw of this movie is that rather than sticking to a plan and being a true film about the perils of dating and relationships, it wants to be the new American Pie. Striving to be something that already sucked and falling short means you suck more.