The young actors from Judd Apatow’s short-lived TV series Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared seem to be taking turns at living as Hollywood’s next funny guy. First there was James Franco, then Seth Rogen, then Jason Segel, and now, after all these years of being that guy in the background, Jay Baruchel has finally earned himself a leading role.

Unfortunately, it’s in She’s Out of My League.

Baruchel plays Kirk, a modest-looking young guy working a dead-end job in airport security. When a beautiful woman named Molly, played by Alice Eve, passes through security, Kirk thinks nothing of it, knowing, as the title suggests, that she is out of his league. But through a fateful twist of events, the two meet again, this time outside the airport.

To Molly, what Kirk lacks in looks, money, and college education he makes up in his generally pleasant demeanor. As they begin dating, it’s apparent that we’re in for a formulaic odd-couple romance.

The comparisons to other recent comedies are inevitable. The poster alone, which features a wide-eyed, awkward looking Baruchel, is eerily reminiscent of the posters of Knocked Up and The 40-Year-Old Virgin. The similarities are even more obvious in the plot’s formula of an average-looking guy who gets with a much-better-than-average-looking girl.

Filmmakers like Judd Apatow have mastered this formula by mixing gross-out humor, sharp dialogue and just the right amount of romance to create films that please both male and female audiences.

In She’s Out of My League, first-time director Jim Field Smith has a hard time balancing the humor and romance. It’s manufactured to tailor to guys looking for dirty jokes and women looking for romantic mush. Neither aspect plays out well, making for an uneven, clunky 100 minutes.

Its plot strictly follows the cookie-cutter formula of any romantic comedy we’ve seen a thousand times before. My problems aren’t with the formula itself — it’s actually led to some of the best comedies of the past few years — but She’s Out of My League is a sloppy execution of it.

It shamelessly attempts to fool guys into thinking they’re seeing something other than a cheap romantic comedy by jamming in a couple of jokes about pubic hair and premature ejaculation. It’s uneven and rigid.

You may recognize Baruchel from his supporting roles in Tropic Thunder and the aforementioned Knocked Up (both vastly superior comedies). Though these were smaller roles, Baruchel stood out as being a funny, likable actor.

Unfortunately, as the leading man in She’s Out of My League, Baruchel is too busy being awkwardly adorable to be funny. I would have liked to see Baruchel have better material to work with for his break-out leading role. Most of the jokes that work come from supporting characters — ironically, roles Baruchel himself is more accustomed to playing.

One of these characters is the hilarious Stainer, played by T.J. Miller. Each time he is on camera, Miller steals the scene. Even when given unfunny lines to work with, he earns laughs through his hilarious delivery. But not even Miller can make this movie worthwhile.

She’s Out of My League aims to please every movie-goer by pairing romance and dirty humor, but it fails to find the right balance.

D+

Reach reporter Andrew Mitrak at weekender@dailyuw.com.