They Came Together, film review: This spoof romcom is charming in its goofy and inane way

(15) David Wain, 81 mins Starring: Paul Rudd, Amy Poehler, Cobie Smulders

David Wain’s ‘They Came Together’ (JoJo Whilden)

David Wain's New York-set, Jerry Zucker-like spoof of romcoms is very charming in its goofy and inane way.

Beneath the jokes about neo-Nazis and incontinence, it is easy to detect the director and co-writer Wain's utter exasperation with everything from Woody Allen to When Harry Met Sally.... Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler are the lovers recounting the story of their bizarre courtship over a very long dinner. He's a corporate robot type. She's a free spirit with her own candy shop, which his company is threatening to put out of business.

There are moments when They Came Together skirts dangerously close to the type of films it is sending up. It wouldn't take very much tweaking to turn the film into a "serious" romantic comedy, with Rudd and Poehler playing slightly less idiotic versions of their characters here.

At the same time, the film-makers highlight just how formulaic most romcoms are in their attitudes toward everything from race (they're invariably about white couples) to class and such stock types as angry ex-husbands.