Eagle vs. Shark

Lily (Loren Horsley) is a shy twentysomething working the counter at Meaty Boy. She dreams of a customer walking in one day and sweeping her off her feet. So far however, no such luck. Jarrod (Jemaine Clement of the band Flight of the Conchords) is around the same age and is such a nerd he makes Napoleon Dynamite look like the Fonz. One afternoon he walks into Meaty Boy to invite of one Lily's co-workers to his animal party. Since the girl he intends it for isn't there, he gives it to Lily to give to her. Classy, ain't he?
It seems odd that a party where you dress as your favorite animal would be attended by anyone over the age of 8, but Jarrod actually has a pretty good turnout. Lily shows up dressed as a shark. Jarrod informs her that he almost dressed as one too but then he "realized that an eagle is slightly better." Lily impresses Jarrod by her performance in his Fightman videogame tournament. The self-serious videogame names that the characters give themselves strike very true. An unsure Lily comes up with the intimidating monicker of Dangerous Person and as the night goes on, Jarrod and Lily find themselves drawn to one another and soon they are off to meet Jarrod's family.
Jarrod really doesn't devote himself to Lily. In fact, he really doesn't treat her well at all. He's completely consumed by his "revenge mission" against high school tormentor Eric, who he leaves a series of threatening phone messages for, which are among the movie's funniest moments.
"Eagle vs. Shark" just doesn't work as well as I had hoped. It has its moments but honestly it feels like ground that has already been well-tread by Wes Anderson as well as "Napoleon Dynamite," "The Science of Sleep," and the little seen (but great) "Jump Tomorrow." Had it come out four years ago it might have blown my mind. Now it just seems like another unlikely awkward love story that's trying to play to a hip crowd in the hopes that we'll be charmed by the New Zealand accents. The biggest problem is the character of Jarrod. Clement does just fine in the performance, but I find it absolutely baffling as to why Lily (who's extremely likable as played by Horsley) would see anything in Jarrod. It's not that he is a nerd, it's that he really isn't a very good guy. I'm not sure why writer-director Taika Waititi thought that making Jarrod a dead beat dad would be a good idea. It would be interesting if it weren't for the fact that Waititi really seems to want us to like Jarrod.
In the end, "Eagle vs. Shark" is a worthwhile film, if only for the performance of Horsley and the music of the Phoenix Foundation. I'll say wait for DVD but if you absolutely feel the need to see it now it's currently playing in Seattle at the Harvard Exit. 6/10