That Awkward Moment when you realise your raunchy new comedy just isn't that funny. That's the situation Zac Efron, Miles Teller and Michael B. Jordan find themselves in with That Awkward Moment. It is a rom-com from the male perspective where the guys are mostly douche bags and the girls fare little better. Even Imogen Poots cannot save this from the lack of laughs reached for by the utterly predictable and unoriginal script.
Jason (Efron), Daniel (Teller) and Mikey (Jordan) are three friends in New York City who decide to see who can stay single the longest. Jason and Daniel both have rosters of girls they see regularly but never commit to and Mikey has just found out his wife is cheating and is now facing the single life that he is not interested in or prepared for. When Jason meets Ellie (Poots) and with Daniel growing closer to his friend Chelsea and Mikey still pining for his wife, staying single might not be as easy it appears.
That Awkward Moment is full of awkward moments where you feel you should be laughing. There is a mix of sweetness with sexism and Viagra jokes with attempts to tug at the heart. It is a rom-com that is as predictable as all the others but will get more guys going to see it with its promise of American Pie style boys being boys and talking about women as if they are simply sexual conquests. The characters are soulless, arrogant, smarmy and unlikeable. Even the married Mikey comes across as mopey, stupid and simplistic. Efron looks smug throughout, clearly enjoying dropping F-bombs and getting to be one of the lads instead of a clean cut heart throb. It might be fun to see him in varying states of undress for High School Musical fans but for everyone else, it is just a guy trying desperately to sully his image.
Miles Teller is his usual vaguely funny self but he is hampered by a weak script and having to tone down the crudeness of his usual on screen persona as he starts to fall in love. He may have been more offensive in 21 & Over but at least he was funnier. Only Imogen Poots emerges with a slightly more exciting and interesting character but too much time is spent pratting around with the male scoundrels that she is left hopelessly undeveloped.
That Awkward Moment is as funny and original as the hundredth internet meme picture you see with those three words emblazoned across it. Efron, Teller and Poots try their best with a script that gets stuck on sexism, sentimentality and all the predictability of every other rom-com set in New York. Despite a couple of good gags, it has no one to root for and nothing to say. If, as Poots' character says at one point, they are the 'selfish generation' plagued by miscommunication, then this is that awkward moment where someone needs to say loud and clear: get over yourselves and grow up.
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