Pick Me Up

For Mark (Hunter), his crippling anxiety and complete lack of confidence is hampering his ability to function in every-day social situations, particularly when it comes to interactions with the opposite sex and even when paying the likes of Lexi (Knox) for her services. In a desperate attempt to finally learn some self-belief and find some nerve to even look a woman in the eye, he turns to a self-professed 'pick up artist' (Delaney) who tells Mark he can give him all the answers, for a small fee of course.

Pick Me Up sees award-winning and very talented filmmakers Jack Archer and his brother Joseph collaborating once more, this time Joseph taking up a producing role and Jack not only on writing duties as with their previous works but also taking to the director's chair solo this time round. And although the roles might have changed slightly this time round, it's clear that both are comfortable enough wearing any hat required to consistently produce good examples of efficient and effective filmmaking.

What the film, and in particular the script does well is find a good balance between the lighter and darker shades of its topic, Jack Archer once again shows an innate talent behind the proverbial pen, allowing the viewer the chance to both laugh at the ridiculousness of the male psyche through its distinctive characters but also managing to find the profound of the moment as well, most importantly never making light of its overall subject matter for the sake of a joke.

And while that central theme might be one we’ve seen numerous variations of in the wake of the #MeToo movement, its skewering of both the unfortunately still relevant misogynistic male attitude towards women and the masculine pre-conception that being an arse is the only way to succeed is well addressed and well executed, although perhaps slightly lacking in something that could have pushed that particular envelope a bit more and maybe given the film that bit more bite to stand out.

Speaking of standing out, Hunter’s is no doubt the best performance here, his sincerity in portraying bag of nerves Mark really is the key to selling the premise in the end, with the right amount of endearing to counter the chauvinist persona of Delaney’s Julius, who although seems to be working with some broad strokes at times communicates the right essence of the character. Annie Knox’s Lexi also hits all the right marks at all the right times, but it’s Hunter that finds all the gears here, especially in his spot-on delivery of the films important closing monologue, allowing us the biggest connection to any of the characters throughout and spoken with such genuine emotion and poignancy that it is entirely captivating, elevates and nicely rounds off the entire piece.

It might not hit all the same highs as previous offerings such as On In 15 or The Mean Spirited, but Pick Me Up is a film that does what it sets out to do and does it well, getting its point across as it should while ticking a lot of other important boxes along the way.