These romantic and redemptive set-ups offers great material for light, absurd comedy, but the film has some unwelcome darkness to it, mostly in Jarrod’s treatment of Lily. Lily is completely trusting, supportive and devoted, the kind of girl that Jarrod should count his lucky stars to find. Instead, he spends most of the movie ignoring and humiliating her, seemingly oblivious to the hurt he’s causing. When she agrees to travel with him to his hometown for the big fight, he repays her kindness by promptly breaking up with her shortly after their arrival to focus on his training, stranding her at his family’s home with no way to leave. She’s also shocked to meet his unmentioned 9-year-old daughter, as well as discovering the lies he told her about the deaths of his brother and mother. He has absolutely no remorse when confronted with her findings, shrugging off her accusations and continuing on his thoughtless way. Any other girl in the world would hate him for the rest of her life, but for some unknown reason Lily still cares for him. It seems like writer/director Taika Cohen was attempting to make more comedy fodder through Lily’s horrific treatment by Jarrod, but ultimately it just destroys the empathy viewers could build for Jarrod. Ironically, the only way he gets back some of that empathy is through the equally dark treatment he gets from his father, a relationship that is wisely never played for laughs.

Cohen incorporates a few quirky animated interludes that give the production a slight Michel Gondry feel, adding some surprising visual flourish to the story. He gets great performances out of his funny cast, and he packs his sets with enough nerd regalia to give them a completely realistic feel. It’s clear he has a strong and original voice, but one that may need a bit of further refinement to reach true greatness.

The DVD extras include the de rigueur deleted scenes and outtakes, although in this film’s case they’re definitely worth watching and good for some bonus laughs. There’s also a music video by The Phoenix Foundation, the fine New Zealand band who supplied most of the film’s songs. Check their 2007 CD release Horsepower as well, it’s worth tracking down.