There’s something entertainingly incorrect in this very funny and critically undervalued high-school reunion comedy starring Jack Black and James Marsden: satirising male midlife breakdown and bromantic anxiety in a way that brings a certain subtext up to the surface. Writer-directors Jarrad Paul and Andrew Mogel might have taken something from Alexander Payne. Dan Landsman (Black) is an officious nerd in a boring job and the self-appointed chairman of his high school’s 20th anniversary reunion party committee. In a desperate attempt to make this event a success, Dan travels all the way to Hollywood to speak to the one real winner in his graduating class: super-cool Oliver Lawless (Marsden) an actor who landed a national TV ad. At first, Oliver is politely embarrassed, and a little irritated by this cringing beta-male, but agrees to meet for a drink; their meeting plays out in unexpected ways and it all ends in toe-curling disaster. Despite a forced feelgood ending, Paul and Mogel have created a funny, nasty movie with nice performances from Black, Marsden and Kathryn Hahn as Dan’s wife, Stacey.
