Writer-director Andrew Simonian’s The Take Out Move is an hourlong exercise in silliness and absurdity that occasionally feels a bit repetitive but ultimately succeeds at being light, breezy and pretty entertaining. 

The mysterious Mr. Fanst (Zack Kozlow) offers two men the opportunity to date a beautiful stranger, Amber (Alexandra Miles), as a condition of induction into an unspecified exclusive society. Each man believes he is the only date and is given a set of tasks that must be completed before the evening can commence. Whalen (Jeremy Sless) arrives first, through less-than-ideal circumstances, but before he can make a move, Davis (Nick Grace) shows up to complicate matters.

Amber isn’t one to take much shit or date random men. In fact, she thinks the two of them are courting one another. She puts them to work on various daily tasks, constantly belittling their masculinity. It’s practically hazing.

Sless, Grace and Miles are all fun to watch in their respective roles, even as their dialogue sometimes falls too far into the stereotypical indie rhythm of “character complaining about something mundane to give them something to talk about” mode. One monologue about pickles, in particular, feels especially grating. There are also multiple instances where Whalen and Davis engage in private conversation that Amber misinterprets as homoerotic innuendo, but the actual double entendres are forced.

Still, as a whole, The Take Out Move is an entertaining watch. Some of the physical comedy works; Whalen and Davis come to blows a few times, and it’s decent slapstick choreography. The final revelations about Mr. Fanst also represent a satisfying, if foreseeable, payoff.

The film was apparently a direct remake of a 1997 short film of the same name, and the end credits to this feature include scene-to-scene comparisons, as well as bloopers. All things considered, this is an entertaining little film that never takes itself too seriously and doesn’t overstay its welcome.