It's been two years since Kirk's ex-girlfriend, Marnie, broke up with him. He's pined for her while they've worked together as Transportation Security Administration officers. But she loves Kirk like she loves TV or pizza--not like she loves her current beau, Ron.
Why? Because on a good day, meek and mild Kirk is only a "5." She knows it. He knows it. And so do Devon, Stainer and Jack, work buddies he's known since high school.
Actually, everyone knows it.
So when beautiful and successful Molly--a "hard 10," as Stainer puts it--starts dating average schmo Kirk, Earth might as well have shifted on its axis. Heads practically spin off necks as folks gawk at the "unnatural" couple. Men on the street give Kirk a thumbs-up for his "catch." Kirk's own father practically mauls Molly when they meet, and his mother is so excited her son has finally "scored" that she can scarcely contain herself. Even Marnie wants Kirk back now. After all, if someone like Molly goes for her ex, Marnie must have missed something.
Kirk can't believe it either. So he second-guesses the relationship until it implodes. At least
he's got his back-up plan Marnie, who's dumped Ron in anticipation.
CONCLUSION
Just before the movie started at the advance screening I attended, a local retailer did a makeover on a male audience member. She gave him a vintage blazer and a hoodie and then said, "Watch out, ladies, Howie's now a 10!"
Really?
Did you know that with a few basic wardrobe swaps someone could go from being a ho-hum 5 to an out-of-sight 10 in two minutes flat? Forget about assessing personality or heart. It's clearly the externals that need sprucing up.
So says a certain clothing store owner and this film.
Come on. Can we all grow up a little? The whole concept of "rating" people is both ridiculous and damaging. And it takes a whole lot more than a wardrobe to improve a jerk's attractiveness. But this movie sees nothing wrong with simultaneously championing the idea of accepting people (oneself included) for who they are and ruthlessly rating them based on "hotness."
How in the world does that work? It doesn't. So it's really all about the pretty people preening, the uglies getting angsty and everybody in between furiously dividing themselves into dreary little camps of exclusion. And there's nothing much any of us can do about it, apparently.
Except this: Start your own personal crusade against unnecessary labeling by slapping a 2 on this utterly unattractive movie and refusing to have anything to do with it.
SOURCE: Plugged In - Meredith Whitmore
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