The best scene in this romantic comedy sendup sees Paul Rudd’s character slouching into a bar after a lovers’ quarrel. The bartender observes, as bartenders will, that he looks like he’s had a rough day. “Tell me about it,” Rudd replies darkly. The man expands slightly on his original remark. “You can say that again,” says Rudd. So the barkeep does. And so it goes, in a loop that runs long enough to become unsettling and then funny again.
It’s a gag more reminiscent of the Zucker brothers than the work of director David Wain, whose comedies have ranged from the timeless (“Wet Hot American Summer”) to the so-so (“Wanderlust”). But it’s comfortable territory for his leads, Rudd and Amy Poehler, as well as the cast of other recognizable comedic faces that surround them.
So why isn’t “They Came Together” (both dressed as Ben Franklin, to a Halloween party) more uniformly hilarious? Perhaps it’s that elusive problem of trying to explain why a thing is funny in the first place: Spelling it out deflates the joke.
And the joke here is that we all know, almost subconsciously, the tropes and paces of a romantic comedy. He’s handsome “in a nonthreatening way.” She’s the “cute klutzy girl.” Their initial meeting is dislike at first sight. What else could possibly follow but love?
Wain certainly knows his stuff, skewering one well-worn phrase and setup after another. “I’ll have what she’s having!” Rudd’s Joel remarks at a dinner party. “You are having what she’s having,” the host (Jason Mantzoukas) responds, puzzled. “It’s all the same food.”
The setup, in which Joel and Molly (Poehler) are out with another couple (Bill Hader and Ellie Kemper) to whom they relay their history, is useful — the duo frequently interrupts to point out clichéd inconsistencies or flagrant departures. “What does that have to do with the two of you?” Hader asks after a lengthy sequence between Joel and his aimless younger brother (Max Greenfield). But it walks a thin line between amusing and simply accurate.
Kenan Thompson, Ken Marino and Jack McBrayer play Joel’s basketball buddies, who embody different male takes on relationships. “Being married is great!” says Thompson, throwing the ball. “That’s the point of view I represent!” The meta-articulation of the scene, necessary as it might be to the joke, drains some of the fun.
It’s when Wain goes downright slapsticky that the movie’s energy hits an upswing (a bit about a disapproving waiter with “a pole up his” you-know-what turns into a Monty Python-esque sight gag; a falling-in-love montage sees Molly take a football square in the face).
Much of the rest, though, will make you smile gently because it’s familiar and taken to an extreme (“I’ve never met anyone else who likes fiction!”). Actual laughs may be harder to come by — as is a rom-com heroine who doesn’t take 10 minutes to order a sandwich.