The biggest challenge for a romantic comedy seems simple: Sell the relationship.

It doesn’t matter how funny the script is or how famous the actors. If you can’t convince the audience that the central couple should be together, you’ve failed.

Thankfully, “She’s Out of My League” addresses the problem right there in the title and continues to win us over as the plot progresses.

Jay Baruchel (“Knocked Up” — there’s a theme in this guy’s career) plays Kirk, a nerdy airport security screener in Pittsburgh. During one boring day at the gate, Molly (Alice Eve) walks in. She is almost unnaturally gorgeous and charming, and Kirk is nice to her when his co-workers commence with the sexual harassment. Remarkably, she finds him attractive, but his insecurity threatens to kill the romance before it can start.

There is so much that could have gone wrong with this movie. Kirk is scrawny and awkward, with zero self-esteem and no direction in life.

Why on earth would his exact opposite be interested in him?

Screenwriters Sean Anders and John Morris take the time to answer that question, casting likable actors with real personalities and giving Kirk and Molly a chance to grow on viewers.

That’s a rare feat in this genre. The writers and director Jim Field Smith show a refreshing level of commitment to something besides broad caricatures and crotch jokes.

They don’t dispense with those tired fallbacks entirely, slowing the story too often. Kirk’s family is like a bad “Saturday Night Live” sketch, and a bathroom scene may haunt some nightmares (just be glad this is only rated R).

Fortunately, “She’s Out of My League” redeems itself by not always going for such cheap laughs. It’s nice to see a movie that actually earns a few.

Read more: http://www.kansascity.com/2010/03/11/1803495/shes-out-of-my-league-but-we-still.html#ixzz0iD3y7IsO