Eagle vs Shark

You may be thinking to yourself “does New Zealand make good movies?” Well with Eagle vs Shark they sure do. I thought the movie was great, but I had a few knots in my stomach because the story reminded me of the people I knew in High School. FYI, I was a nerd, and I knew people who fit into the roles of Lily and Jarrod and it brought up all of the feeling of sympathy for them.

The story is based around a shy, nerdy and not very attractive girl named Lily who is madly in love with Jarrod, an overly confident, mullet wearing geek. The two work in the same mall, Lily at a burger joint, and Jarrod at a game store. Lily waits to see him everyday when he comes into the restaurant and hopes that one day he will choose her line to stand in. However, Jarrod has a thing for the attractive cashier and takes no notice of Lily. One day, Lily is fired due to having her name randomly pulled from a hat (which was not so random) but works out the rest of the week. One day when the attractive cashier is not in, Jarrod enters Lily’s queue and gives her an invitation to a costume party for her to pass to the missing cashier. When the other girl discards the invite, Lily decides to go to the party with her brother dressed as a shark.

Meeting at a party as a shark and an eagle, the two battle on a video game and have sex. believing that they are now in a relationship, Lily begins to follow Jarrod and brushes off his attempts to lose her. Jarrod has a secret, not only is he absolutely unbearable, he has a long standing hatred for a bully from his past. With his desire for revenge, he now needs Lily’s help, or at least her brother’s car, to go home and begin his training. Lily follows him to his family’s house where the two discover not just each other, but themselves as well.

I would not rent this if you are expecting a side splitting comedy as you might expect from Jemaine Clement (Jarrod) who you may recognize from the comedy show The Flight of the Concords. But you will find the humor in the exaggerated behavior of its characters, that may just remind you of yourself or of someone else you once knew. It is a touching and uncomfortable story that you can’t not allow yourself to see, at least once.