Here’s a movie I had never heard of until recently, even though it came out in 2015 and starred two actors I like. It’s called “Man Up,” and after finding it on Prime Video, I’m making it the newest addition to my Movies You Might Not Know list.
It starts with Nancy (Lake Bell), a woman in her thirties, who finds herself sitting on a train opposite a younger woman, Jessica (played by an actress with the unlikely name of Ophelia Lovibond). The latter is reading a self-help book, “Six Billion People And You,” and feels she has to share its advice with the former. Jessica also explains the book is how her upcoming blind date will recognize her as she stands under the big clock in Waterloo station.
Nancy doesn’t want to hear any of this and tells her so. As they pull into Waterloo, Jessica gets up and off in a huff, but not before giving the book to Nancy, telling her she desperately needs to read it. Nancy picks the book up and follows, intending to return it, but loses Jessica in a crowd.
That’s when a guy in his forties named Jack (Simon Pegg) approaches Nancy, sees the book in her hand, assumes she’s Jessica, and introduces himself as the blind date. Nancy begins to correct him, but quickly changes her mind because she kinda likes this goofy guy.
So there’s your meet-cute, which sounds like a million other romcoms. Except “Man Up” is witty and clever, its stars have lots of chemistry, and their performances have you rooting for them through every obstacle Nancy and Jack encounter, including the truth. On top of that, the last 15-20 minutes of the movie — including some scenes at the 40th anniversary party of Nancy’s parents — feel as wonderfully offbeat and moving as the finale of Richard Curtis’ “Love Actually.”
I became a Lake Bell fan in 2013 after seeing “In A World,” which she wrote, directed, and starred in as a woman trying to break into the male-dominated world of movie voiceovers (I raved about it in my review). Since then, I’ve seen her in a few other things (including “No Escape,” which I reviewed here) and she has always had an American accent — unsurprising since she’s from here. But in “Man Up,” she plays Nancy with a British accent and, according to Simon Pegg, kept using it throughout the entire production, even when they weren’t shooting. It wasn’t until the film wrapped and she thanked members of the crew that they discovered she’s not English.
“Man Up” screenwriter Tess Morris and director Ben Palmer keep a lot of balls in the air as the plot proceeds, but never drop any of them while putting the charisma of Pegg and Bell in the forefront all the way through. The result is an 88-minute romcom romp that I enjoyed enough to give an 8.5 out of 10.