Jay Baruchel and Alice Eve in "She's Out of My League."

BY GENE TRIPLETT

Alice Eve plays a gorgeous girl who goes gaga over a geek in the romantic comedy “She’s Out of My League,” which required her to neck with a nerdy-looking Jay Baruchel in several intimate scenes.

But did feigning passion for a guy with droopy socks and bad posture prove awkward or icky or dramatically taxing for the beautiful British actress? Not a bit of it.

“We hit it off pretty well,” Eve said of her leading man. “He made it clear that he wasn’t out of my league. And then we were friends. He kept telling me.”

She was speaking from the backseat of a car that was speeding her to the Houston airport, where she would hop a flight to her next stop on a tour publicizing the film, which opens today in theaters.

British filmmaker Jim Field Smith makes his feature film debut directing this screenplay by “Sex Drive” writing team Sean Anders and John Morris, about a Pittsburgh airport security agent named Kirk (Baruchel) who spots a blond knockout named Molly (Eve). She accidentally leaves her cell phone at the checkpoint as she’s hurrying to board a plane, leaving Kirk with a good excuse to call her when she comes back home.

When he returns Molly’s phone, she offers to reward him with a pair of hockey game tickets, which he accepts, completely unaware of the fact that she’s actually asking him out on a date.

It seems no two people could be more mismatched, since Kirk is content and unambitious, still hanging out with his high school buddies (played by Mike Vogel, T.J. Miller and Nate Torrence), who are now his co-workers, while Molly is a successful party planner living in a beautiful apartment, pursued by every eligible, successful and handsome bachelor in town.

But Molly, who is a “hard 10” when it comes to looks, sees something attractive in Kirk, who barely rates a “shaky five” in appearance. Seems hard to believe, but Eve thinks love really can overcome such a point spread.

“I do actually, yeah, I mean if you believe in the scoring system, then I do,” she said. “I think the thing is, like, someone can have hidden qualities. You may think they’re a five, and then they have like other things that make them a 10.”

Off camera, the London native speaks in a soft British accent not heard in the film. The Oxford graduate, at 28, already has chalked up theater credits on Broadway and in London’s West End in the critically lauded play “Rock N Roll,” written by Tom Stoppard and directed by Trevor Nunn. She’s appeared in such feature films as “Crossing Over,” “Stage Beauty,” “Starter for Ten” and “Big Nothing,” and on UK television in “The Rotters Club” and “Losing Gemma.”

She is the daughter of British actors Trevor Eve and Sharon Maughan, who play her parents in “She’s Out of My League,” which was director Smith’s quirky casting idea. It was a mutual dream come true for Eve and her parents to perform together.

“They were great,” Eve said. “It was nice to have them there. We always hoped I would (act with them). But it was so nice to see it on film, see it actually happen. The other day when I saw it again, I was like, it was so nice that actually happened.”

She said the cast members her own age made filming a pleasant experience as well.

“We were all like a bunch of guys under 25, and we were hanging out in Pittsburgh, running around like kids,” Eve said. “It was pretty fun to make. I made really good friends with Krysten (Ritter), who plays Patty. We had a lot of fun together and got pretty close. And, obviously, Jay and I worked together a lot, and so we got pretty close, too.”

In fact, Baruchel and Eve got very close in some of the sexier scenes of this R-rated comedy, but it’s all part of the job for a working actress.

“By the time we did (the love scenes), we’d spent three months together or whatever, so it was pretty comfortable by then,” she said. “It’s always like, ‘OK, let’s get naked.’ You know, that’s an awkward moment.”

Besides, her co-star isn’t as dorky as the character he plays.

“No, he’s much less geeky than that,” Eve said. “He isn’t like falling over things and stuff. He’s a pretty serious guy, you know. He’s half Canadian. He’s got the maple leaf tattooed on his chest. And he’s like very patriotic, and he believes in conspiracy theories. He’s pretty interesting.”

And there’s the added bonus of a message within the story that made the project worthwhile for her.

“I think the message is to be yourself,” Eve said. “The best thing to do is just be yourself. I think that’s a pretty good message. I’m proud to be part of something that has that at its core.”

Alice Eve and Jay Baruchel in "She's Out of My League."

Can a blond bombshell really fall for a bumbling geek? Maybe in a terminally awkward and frustrated schoolboy’s fondest fantasy. Definitely in the puerile imaginations of screenwriters Sean Anders and John Morris, who took audiences for a ridiculously raunchy ride in “Sex Drive.”

Now they’ve brought to life the answer to every love-starved pencil-neck’s dream with “She’s Out of My League,” a comedy that leans more toward romance than raunch, although there’s still enough of the latter to earn a solid R rating.

But this romp from first-time director Jim Field Smith has its share of laughs and even an admirable moral center, starring a talented if relatively unknown group of young players. A gangly Jay Baruchel (“Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist”) is well-cast and likable as Kirk, a 20-something Pittsburgh airport security agent who still hangs with his high school buddies (Mike Vogel, T.J. Miller and Nate Torrence), who are also his co-workers, and is perfectly content with his lot in life — except for its lack of a girlfriend. A vivacious Alice Eve (“Crossing Over”) fairly dazzles as Molly, a gorgeous blonde who passes through Kirk’s checkpoint one day and, in her rush to catch a plane, leaves behind her cell phone.

Kirk has a perfect excuse to contact Molly when she comes back home, and when he returns her phone, she rewards him with a pair of tickets to a hockey game, totally missing the fact that this dream girl is asking him out on date until someone sets him straight.

No two people could be less suited to each other, and Kirk’s family and friends keep reminding him mercilessly of that fact. Molly is “a hard 10,” his buddy Stainer (Miller) points out, while Kirk is “a shaky five.” But this smart, sophisticated, devastatingly beautiful woman apparently sees something appealing in Kirk that no one else can fathom — including Kirk.

But as Molly wines and dines him, Kirk gradually begins to overcome his self-doubts and social clumsiness and believe in himself and the possibility of a brighter future — until a surprise first meeting with Molly’s upper-crust parents finds him in a hilariously compromising position, bringing an abrupt and devastating end to the relationship.

At first reeling with shame and embarrassment, Kirk soon recovers and launches and all-out campaign to win Molly back, despite the efforts of his suddenly possessive witch of an ex-girlfriend (Lindsay Sloane) and Molly’s impossibly handsome and dashing ex-boyfriend (Geoff Stults) to stand in his way.

Audiences will be laughing and cringing at the situations that result, but in the end the movie’s heartfelt message is clear about the true qualities that add up to a 10.

– Gene Triplett

MOVIE REVIEW

“She’s Out of My League”

R1:452½

Starring: Jay Baruchel, Alice Eve, T.J. Miller, Mike Vogel, Nate Torrence, Krysten Ritter, Geoff Stults, Lindsay Sloane.

(Language and sexual content)