Joel (Paul Rudd) and Molly (Amy Poehler) are out to dinner with their friends, Kyle (Bill Hader) and Karen (Ellie Kemper). Kyle and Karen ask Joel and Molly how they met. Joel and Molly reply that their “meet-cute” is something out of a cheesy romantic comedy. They begin telling the tale.

The story definitely hits every cliché of a cheesy romantic comedy. Complete with ex-girlfriends (Cobie Smulders), big corporation vs. little companies, little brothers (Max Greenfield), and the couple are supposed to hate each other based on who they are and where they work.

Joel and Molly’s story carries on much longer than expected. Kyle and Karen try to get them to wrap up the saga, only to be tortured by the never-ending story. In the end, the story of how Joel and Molly’s history leaves us, well, with not really taking us anywhere.

As with Joel and Molly’s story of how they met and got together, They Came Together carries on laboriously, leaving the viewer in the same place as Kyle and Karen. Wishing it had ended much sooner.

The cast of the movie gave me high hopes that it would be a funny movie. Paul Rudd, Amy Poehler, Bill Hader, Michael Ian Black, Max Greenfield, Ed Helms, Christopher Meloni. The list goes on. It is the type of cast one would put together if they were going to put on one of the greatest comedies ever. Instead, they take this great cast and hand them a sloppy script, leaving them nowhere to go with it.

The set up has potential. It is a spoof movie of just about every classic romantic comedy, without stooping to the level of Not Another Teen Movie or Scary Movie. Sort of. While it doesn’t quite get to the ridiculous slapstick type spoofing of the genres, the writing isn’t any better. They Came Together is maybe a bit too self-referential, in trying to cram every possible romantic comedy joke into one movie.

Perhaps, it’s that the film comes across as trying too hard. And many of the jokes carry on too long. There is a scene with Paul Rudd in a bar where they literally carry on one joke for what seems like forever. In reality, it is maybe a minute, but the joke never progresses past the initial set up. At one point, I said out loud, “Can we move on? Please?” This is how the majority of the jokes are executed. It is quite disappointing.

Knowing very little about it, I expected so much from this movie just from the casting. Perhaps that was my fault. I wanted it to be good, so there was little hope it would live up to my expectations. Do yourself a favor and skip They Came Together. Honestly, I would rather sit through Grown Ups 2 again. It’s that bad.