Man Up review: Simon Pegg and Lake Bell's rom-com is a winner

Director: Ben Palmer; Screenwriter: Tess Morris; Starring: Simon Pegg, Lake Bell, Olivia Williams; Rory Kinnear; Running time: 88 mins; Certificate: 15

Cupid's arrow takes a circuitous route before finding its mark in Man Up, a truly rib-tickling rom-com that delivers the heady buzz of a great first date. But it's American actress Lake Bell (doing a fine English accent, here) who looks set to win viewers' hearts, more so than leading man Simon Pegg who generously acts as her 'straight man' - albeit slightly dizzied by the whirlwind of weird that Bell creates around him.

Bell, who also impressed with her 2013 writing/directing debut In a World..., stars as Nancy, vaguely depressed at still being single and incorrigibly goofy at 34 years old. However, judging by the way she tucks into a baguette on a crowded train, simultaneously complaining about her love life, she's not overly self-consciousness either. Sharon Horgan (recently seen in Channel 4's Catastrophe) plays the happily married big sister on the other end of the line who pep-talks Nancy through another romantic disappointment - and also begs her to hurry so that she can help out in preparing for their parents' 40th wedding anniversary do.

Inevitably, Nancy gets side-tracked. After a fellow passenger gifts her with a self-help book, she takes offence and gives chase through Waterloo station before bumping into Jack (Pegg). In time-honoured tradition, Jack is waiting under the clock for his blind date, also with a copy of the book in hand – the equivalent of a carnation in the lapel – and mistakes Nancy for the twentysomething he is supposed to be meeting. Nancy doesn't disabuse him of this notion, instead deciding she should be more spontaneous and just go with the flow.

Director Ben Palmer (The Inbetweeners Movie) certainly keeps the action moving at a brisk pace, flitting around London's South Bank between bars and a restaurant and a bowling alley where Rory Kinnear relishes his part as a dribbling stalker who threatens to blow Nancy's cover.

Olivia Williams pops up, too, as Jack's ex-wife with her new husband in tow (Stephen Campbell Moore), dredging up old feelings and creating a deliciously awkward atmosphere. All these accidental meetings and misadventures aren't too surprising, but there's an infectiously fun, high-energy feel that comes from the breezy direction and Bell's physical performance (comically clumsy without being slapstick), plus dialogue that has real rhythm and bounce.

Bell is funny to the bone, but she also has that rare combination of intelligence, grit and vulnerability which keeps the film from being overly fluffy.

Sexual chemistry doesn't come into it (it's only a first date!), but there's plenty of breaking up and making up as the night progresses and the leading couple are well-matched when it comes to dissecting each other's neuroses. Thankfully, Nancy isn't just a cardboard cut-out of the kooky rom-com heroine and while she longs to be in love, she doesn't stand for any nonsense either. Bell is funny to the bone, but she also has that rare combination of intelligence, grit and vulnerability which keeps the film from being overly fluffy. Yes, it gets a bit silly especially towards the end, but when a woman can staunchly withstand various indignities – like having chocolate mousse licked off her face by a slobbering psychopath – you can't help but cheer her on.