Film review: That Awkward Moment

Tom Gormican’s smutty comedy explores the mating rituals of 21st century twenty-somethings and concludes that the pursuit of love is as precarious now as it has ever been.
Undated Film Still Handout from That Awkward Moment. Pictured: Zac Efron as Jason. See PA Feature FILM Film Reviews. Picture credit should read: PA Photo/Entertainment One. WARNING: This picture must only be used to accompany PA Feature FILM Film Reviews.Undated Film Still Handout from That Awkward Moment. Pictured: Zac Efron as Jason. See PA Feature FILM Film Reviews. Picture credit should read: PA Photo/Entertainment One. WARNING: This picture must only be used to accompany PA Feature FILM Film Reviews.
Undated Film Still Handout from That Awkward Moment. Pictured: Zac Efron as Jason. See PA Feature FILM Film Reviews. Picture credit should read: PA Photo/Entertainment One. WARNING: This picture must only be used to accompany PA Feature FILM Film Reviews.

The internet, smartphones and dating apps might have made it easier to make initial contact, or simply enjoy fleeting physical gratification, but for the embers of a fledgling relationship to smoulder, a few smiley faced texts simply won’t suffice.

That Awkward Moment charts this haphazard search for physical and emotional closeness through the eyes of three swaggering best friends, who live and work in New York City.

Gormican’s film demands a huge suspension of

Undated Film Still Handout from That Awkward Moment. Pictured: Zac Efron as Jason. See PA Feature FILM Film Reviews. Picture credit should read: PA Photo/Entertainment One. WARNING: This picture must only be used to accompany PA Feature FILM Film Reviews.Undated Film Still Handout from That Awkward Moment. Pictured: Zac Efron as Jason. See PA Feature FILM Film Reviews. Picture credit should read: PA Photo/Entertainment One. WARNING: This picture must only be used to accompany PA Feature FILM Film Reviews.
Undated Film Still Handout from That Awkward Moment. Pictured: Zac Efron as Jason. See PA Feature FILM Film Reviews. Picture credit should read: PA Photo/Entertainment One. WARNING: This picture must only be used to accompany PA Feature FILM Film Reviews.
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disbelief. It asks us to believe High School Musical dreamboat Zac Efron, who reduces hordes of teenage girls to screeching harpies, would struggle to find a good woman to keep the other half of his duvet warm at night.

He plays Jason, who chases single women in local bars in the company of best buddy and co-worker, Daniel (Miles Teller).

The third member of the dude posse is Mikey (Michael B Jordan), who married young and is happily settled with his beautiful wife Vera (Jessica Lucas).

Teller is a far better actor than the script allows him to be here and Jordan provides solid support in another underwritten role.