The Bounceback aka Love & Air Sex (2013)

(On Cable TV, July 2021) I have visited Austin, TX only once, and spent less than twelve hours in the downtown core. Still, the one place I remember vividly is the movie mecca The Alamo Drafthouse. So, imagine my pleasure in seeing the downtown establishment being used as a focal point for the independent romantic comedy Love & Air Sex as it hosts the Air Sex championship (it’s a thing) and, incidentally, provides one of the backdrops to the story of two young ex-couples contemplating getting back together or not. From a narrative perspective, there really isn’t anything new in Love & Air Sex — if your viewing is interrupted after twenty minutes (as mine was), you will still have a pretty good idea of who ends up with whom or, more crucially, who doesn’t — and this is the kind of romantic comedy that has you rooting for the leads not to end back together so that they can move on. Clearly aimed at twentysomething viewers, it often reaches for vulgarity in-between more romantic moments: never mind the crude air sex pantomime when lust and love are sometimes tough to separate for one of the ex-couples. (Tellingly, though, it’s the B-couple that has hormonal issues and gets back together — the A-couple deals in longing, new romances and growth.)  Fortunately, Love & Air Sex does work quite well when it gives itself permission to go for romance without crudity — the resolution of the film is more mature than you’d guess from the onset, and there are a few cute scenes here and there. My main problem with the film is elsewhere — specifically, the male protagonist, who can’t stop moping around like a sad dog and who seems both incapable of succeeding in Los Angeles and not much of a match for a far more attractive female lead. I get that Love & Air Sex, being slightly more aimed at male audiences, probably thought it best to leave the male protagonist (played by a likable but unremarkable Michael Stahl-David) bland in order to facilitate self-identification, but the resulting character is, frankly, not much more than a walking blank canvas. A nice guy, but hardly someone who creates much attachment. Ashley Bell (who reminds me of a young Julie Hagerty, for some reason) does much better as the med student finding a possible match in a far superior “vet vet”.  In comparison, Sara Paxton and Zach Cregger have a lot more fun as the comedic supporting players. Writer-director Bryan Poyser doesn’t do too badly here — Love & Air Sex is reasonably entertaining to watch, and it brought me right back to a really good day in downtown Austin and a great evening at the Alamo Drafthouse.