“I call that moment the ‘so’,” said Jason.

Surprisingly, It’s intensely rarely to see a R-rated rom-com with heaps of testosterone lately; date movies focus more on women, while some R-rated comedy is barely about dating. Seemingly, director Tom Gormican doesn’t (maybe intentionally) know the drill as he makes his own ‘awkward moment’ with his bromance-d date movie, That Awkward Moment, with his “future” frat pack.

That Awkward Moment revolves around the bromance between three post-college adult-boys led by Jason (Zac Efron), a book cover designer—also a typical alpha male with penchant of being a douchebag; along with Daniel (Miles Teller, rising star—ready for  the Fantastic Four reboot), a colleague and typical wingman with tons of jokes, and Mikey (Michael B. Jordan, another rising star—also ready for  the Fantastic Four reboot), a married doctor.

When poor Mikey splits from his wife, the team takes a ‘bro before hoe’ vow of chastity—to stay single—as a sympathetic deed for their hapless friend. Yet, it’s never been easy for them as Jason falls for Ellie (Imogen Poots), a client he’s mistaken as a *sorry* hooker; while Daniel finally finds solace in Chelsea (Mackenzie Davis), his friend-turn-lover. In the meantime, Mikey still tries to work his marriage with his wife out. This time-bomb in their bromance is just about to explode as they go on.

With typical formulas—three guys: the douchebag leader, the jokey wingman, and the little brother; and making-breaking promise plot—this film is, mainly, a generic soap opera resemblance. To make it worse, you can also observe some perceptible logic fails in the story, including nonsensical details without efforts. Is the movie that bad? Yes, it’s that bad in the realm of banality, genre-cliche, you name it; but, it also bears tons of sweet moments, adequate to make you smile for dozens time. Aside from my skeptical thought about the banalities, I personally love how this movie works with the savvy dialogues—the “so” paradigm and stuffs—and how it handles the casts—the trio is awesome in portraying their bromance; while Imogen Poots is great in her American accent. Spontaneity, that’s the point that makes me enjoy this movie.

That Awkward Moment, even though, becomes an awkward moment itself, it’s still entertaining. It’s more on being funny than being romantic, but, underneath it’s being romantic in the realm of, just like Jason says, “Do it like in movie” theme. It’s romantic, it’s bromantic, and it’s enjoyable.

That Awkward Moment (2014)

Romance, Comedy Written & Directed by: Tom Gormican Starred by: Zac Efron, Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan, Imogen Poots, Mackenzie Davis Running Time: 94 mins Rated R for sexual content and language throughout

IMDb | Official Site