Somebody I Used to Know is a romantic comedy that’s better on the romance than it is on the comedy… and it’s only so-so on the romance. I think the problem is the movie has the wrong main character.

The flick is about a selfish reality tv showrunner who returns home to her small town and runs into an old flame. After hitting it off again, she discovers he’s getting married that weekend. So she rolls up her sleeves to win the boy and ruin the wedding.

Yeah, it might not be quite as calculated as that sounds, but it’s her goal and that makes her hard to like. But the movie is about redemption arks so that softens things up. Unfortunately, the guy’s fiancé is the lead singer of a punk band who is giving up the career to be with him… and she should have been the star of the movie. That’s a more interesting character facing a more interesting challenge (the conniving ex).

Despite that little flaw, the romance, character growth, and interactions are pretty ok. Jay Ellis is the guy and he’s pretty charming. Danny Pudi has a part that reminds us how great he and Brie were on Community. Some other decent actors show up to help save the film.

The humor? Really erratic, almost like they had a straight romance flick and decided to insert some random gross-out and racy comedy that doesn’t fit the tone of the rest of the film. Want to see what happens when a cat pukes and shits? Voila. Want to see Julie Haggerty – who is OLD – have random sex? Here you got. <insert laugh track here>

This isn’t a terrible movie and it’s possible someone with more tolerance for the comedy and who forgives Alison Brie’s character will like it more than me. I couldn’t help but find the punk rock fiancé a lot more interesting… and the humor too scattershot and random.

Score: 74