Are We Officially Dating?
Starring: Zac Efron, Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan, Imogen Poots
Directed by Tom Gormican
Reviewed by Brendan Dousi
Rating: [3/5]
Valentine’s Day is almost here, or has already come depending on when you read this. Regardless, we’re being bombarded with Romantic Comedies all vying to be the date movie for the season. While we don’t have any ensemble monstrosities like 2010’s woeful ‘Valentine’s Day’ to contend with, there are still a number of smaller, contained Rom-Coms to wade through. Among them is newcomer Writer/Director Tom Gormican’s ‘Are We Officially Dating?’, otherwise known as ‘That Awkward Moment’ around the globe. Yeah, Australia has a habit of changing titles sometimes. So, will ‘Are We Officially Dating?’ satisfy your Rom-Com cravings or will it end up putting a dampener on your date night?
Jason (Zac Efron) is a serial-womaniser who’s been at it for a while now. He has a system in place; continue to have casual sex with a woman until she tries to start a conversation with that dreaded word, “So…”. He avoids any commitment by respectfully dropping the woman and continuing on to the next. When his serial-monogamist friend Mikey (Michael B. Jordan) splits with his wife, Jason and their other friend Daniel (Miles Teller) decide to make a ‘No Girlfriends’ pact to help Mikey through his transition from Husband to Player. This is all well and good, hijinks and sexy-times ensue, until Jason meets Ellie (Imogen Poots) who may very well be the perfect woman for him and something starts to unexpectedly grow between Daniel and his close friend Chelsea (Mackenzie Davis). Will the trio’s Bro-mance manage to survive all of these sudden, yet inevitable betrayals?
‘Are We Officially Dating?’ isn’t as horrible as it sounds, I promise. Sure, it’s full of romantic comedy cliché’s and can be a little corny, but at its centre it’s a genuinely funny and endearing male-centric Rom-Com with its heart in the right place. There’s a lot of womanizing, yes, but it’s refreshing to see that the women aren’t completely treated like objects or prizes to be won. They are often just as equally interested in casual sex as the male characters engaging in it with them. It also helps that there’s a decent character balance here. Jason and Daniel can say some pretty offensive things but the character of Mikey has a sensibility that calls-out and draws attention to anything that may be too on the nose. A cheeky little way for the comedy to kind of have its cake and eat it too.
The main draw here, however, is the undeniable charisma of all three of the leading men. Zac Efron gets a bad rap for starting out in the High School Musical franchise, but to be honest he’s grown tremendously as an actor since then and his portrayal of Jason manages to be both dickish yet endearing. It also helps that you get to see his butt. Miles Teller as Daniel has tremendous comedic timing and has some of the best lines in the film. The real star here is Michael B. Jordan as Mikey, this man has an undeniable appeal that has seen him deservedly sky-rocket quickly through the ranks of Hollywood, sensitive yet strong he excels here as the anchor of the trio.
The Bro-mance on display here actually feels natural, as does the inevitable romance. This film has some genuinely funny moments to it while managing to pull off being a ‘sex-comedy’ without being offensive, something many have failed at before. Grounded by its trio of star-quality leading men, ‘Are We Officially Dating?’ is definitely one of the better date movies out there right now, despite it’s stupid Australian title.
