Man Up * * * 1/2

Another crowd pleasing romantic English comedy with a bit of a risque edge. It is set over a few hours.  Nancy (Lake Bell) and Jack (Simon Pegg) are both waiting under the station clocks when one mistakes the other as being the person he should meet for his blind date. But even though Nancy knows it’s a mistaken identity, for some reason Nancy just goes with it.  She should actually be at her parents 40th wedding anniversary which is the reason she has come down to London but finds herself totally connecting with this fellow who believes her to be Jessica, the girl he is supposed to be blind dating with.

Jack and Nancy have a drink and go bowling where unfortunately Nancy meets someone from her past who immediately knows she is not who she pretends to be but agrees to keep her secret - for a price.

The comedy of errors continues as Jack and Nancy meet Jack’s ex-wife, and her new partner, in a bar.

The laughs are plenty, and the characters nicely drawn. What I found surprising and particularly satisfying about Man Up is that despite its well worn “mistaken identity” comic scenario it’s played in a way that just made it funnier, and the characters became more endearing, as it unfolded.