The rom-com certainly seems to be going through some kind of strange transformation at the moment. As well as the female driven rom-com idea that was so successfully pushed forward by Bridesmaids, we have also noticed a lot of bromance films around, which makes us to begin to question, do they actually need the opposite sex in a film anymore besides just being a plot device?
You will certainly question this with That Awkward Moment, the wonderful Zac Efron’s latest production. Yes, we did mean wonderful. Let’s face it, despite what you want to say about Efron, he is most certainly an all rounder, he can sing, he can dance and although he hasn’t really had a chance to prove it to us yet, he can act. Even if That Awkward Moment doesn’t do what might be expected of him, we still have Neighbours to look forward to later this year.
It almost seems like it is this “macho” approach to both Efron’s career and the film at large that makes That Awkward Moment suffer, like it just is not sure of its place in the world.
We are introduced to the very typical character that is Jason who is played by Efron in the very first scene. Jason has positioned himself on a park bench in the freezing cold for five hours but of course, we are going to need an explanation as to why he ended up there.
Basically, Jason was a lone wolf, a guy who like to sleep around with a lot of girls but never really found “the one.” As soon as the awkward moment arrived when the lady he was seeing at the time began to question what was going on, Jason became pretty clear that he didn’t want to be in a relationship.
All that matters to Jason is his friends, so when the trio, who include Daniel and Mikey make a pact to not date any women due to the end of Mikey’s marriage, he thinks he will find it easy enough to keep to it. Of course, like all of these films, that’s when you will meet the love of your life.
That Awkward Moment is exactly what it says it is; awkward. Although you can never get over the charm of Zac Efron, it’s almsot difficult to buy that he would be a macho man that would not only be entirely inconsiderate of women’s feelings but also his friends.
On top of that, the banter between the three doesn’t really flow like it would say in the Hangover, rather it seems entirely contrived and not as funny as you would like or expect it to be.
Besides this, That Awkward Moment is basically a bromance rom-com by numbers. Guy says he won’t meet girl, guy meets girl, guy loses girl and it’s pretty easy to guess the rest from here. There really isn’t anything new or original to see here.
However, if you are interested in seeing Zac Efron basically in the nip, this is the film for you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JE_bE_kswEw
