Nancy is done with dating. 10 times bitten, 100 times shy, she's exhausted by the circus. So when Jack blindly mistakes her for his date, no one is more surprised than her when she does the unthinkable and just... goes with it. It's going to take a night of pretending to be someone else for Nancy to finally man up and be her painfully honest, awesomely unconventional self... but will Jack also man up, and be able to get over her duplicity? Best just to let the evening unfold, roll with the consequences, and see if one crazy, unpredictable, complicated night can bring these two messy souls together.
Man Up has a couple of bits that don't quite work and the ending is just silly, but for the most part, Pegg and Bell carry this thing through sheer force of personality.
For all the rom-com conventions of the film (and there many...), it has a low-key charm and an adult take on expectations, disappointments, and missed opportunities...
Both actors stay sharp through some pretty degrading moments, and if Palmer and screenwriter Tess Morris are bent on serious button-pushing in the closing scenes, at least they garnish it with playfulness and wit.
There are enough twists, turns and strange little bumps in the road to make this well-traveled journey to romantic comedy bliss surprisingly worthwhile.
Bell and Pegg, both terrific comic actors, mine small gestures and reactions for laughs. But they're at their best when they're talking, and they talk a lot in "Man Up."
It's all very gener ic and predictable, but not in an entirely bad way. Man Up has its charms and it'll raise a smile, perhaps even a chuckle or two, if you're looking for a no-frills romcom.
