LEAP YEAR
HAYLIN BELAY' REVIEW
RATING: C-
I hate romantic comedies. Well, alright, maybe that's a bit of a hyperbole. What I hate, more specifically, is the incredibly shallow and predictable romantic comedies quickly dubbed "chick flicks" in our popular culture; vapid films usually centered on sweeping romances, shopping, and thinly veiled sexism in the form of Victorian-style fainting ladies who are both delicate and unable to control their wild emotions. Ick. Once in a while, a rom-com comes along that breaks or subverts the mold - THE NOTEBOOK, for example, or LOVE ACTUALLY - and those are films that I can easily fall in love with on sheer virtue of their originality and honesty. LEAP YEAR, the latest film from director Anand Tucker who also directed 2005's SHOPGIRL, is not one of those films.
In fact, it features almost every single thing I hate about romantic comedies. The romance between Anna and Declan, characters so abysmally boring that I actually had to look up their names to write this review, seems to come from absolutely nowhere - one moment they're bickering, and the next they're gazing at each other through gobs and gobs of unexplained sexual tension. Amy Adams plays Anna as a gaspy, neurotic, accident-prone and shallow woman - the quintessential dazed rom-com female lead. I love Adams, don't get me wrong: she's usually sweet, funny, and utterly charming, even when playing the most vapid of characters. With Anna, however, it was clear that Adams was phoning it in. Her acting feels forced and awkward, and her constant shrill melodrama actually made her annoying. Let me repeat that: LEAP YEAR makes Amy Adams nigh unwatchable. Matthew Goode, who cranks his trademark smarm and charisma up to 11 as Declan, is hindered by a poorly developed character and an Irish accent only marginally better than Gerard Butler's in PS I LOVE YOU, but he's at least fun to watch. Unfortunately, his expressiveness and willingness to work with such ill thought out material only makes Adams look even more ridiculous in comparison.
The plot doesn't do the film any favors, either. The characters tend to be reduced to their most basic clichés, introduced with scenes that show audiences only the shallowest of personality traits. From the opening montage, where Anna is shown to be anal retentive through incredibly heavy-handed voice over and scenes of her wiping down a bar counter, it is clear that any character development in the film is definitely not going to be too deep, nor imaginative. Every piece of information we get about Anna and Declan is predictable and trite: Anna's problems with her father, the woman who was the source of Declan's cynicism. By the end of the first fifteen minutes, any moviegoer could probably detail the way the film ended - right down to the dialogue. What is most frustrating from a story standpoint is the complete failure of screenwriters Simon Beaufoy, Harry Elfont, and Deborah Kaplan to introduce any real emotional conflict. With a film as predictable as LEAP YEAR, there's literally nothing at stake, and no twists along the way - none, at all. Every scene in the film is straight out of the archetypal romantic comedy: the catty bickering turned into subtle flirting, the romantic hero saving his female love interest from some sort of aggression, even the accidental and awkward sight of each other naked (how scandalous!). But unlike films like THE PROPOSAL or THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY, LEAP YEAR doesn't even attempt to put a fresh spin on these tried-and-true rom-com stock scenes.
But for all that aspects of the film made me want to gag, LEAP YEAR wasn't an unenjoyable cinematic experience. It was cute when it needed to be cute, and had just enough good, solid humor to keep from being boring. It was nice to see IT?S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA's Kaitlin Olson in her small cameo role, at least, and I must confess that I'm always charmed by Matthew Goode. In fact, it was his portrayal of Declan that made the film at all bearable; his comedic timing and facial expressions were impeccable as always. If only he were in better movies! While I wouldn't recommend the film, per se, it does - more or less - what a romantic comedy is supposed to do: it makes the audience feel good. (That is, if the audience can get over the out-dated idea that women cannot propose to men and that women need to be married to be happy - two ideas that believing the film absolutely hinges on). It is the fact that I didn't actively want to claw my face off that saves this film from a failing grade - but only barely.
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MARK SALDANA'S REVIEW
RATING: 1 (Out of 4 Stars)
This should sound familiar. Spoiled, rich, and uptight city girl meets a rough, down to earth, working class guy. Their polar opposite backgrounds and personalities clash at first, but then a romantic chemistry develops. The more they get to know each other, the more they realize how warm hearted they are. The two eventually fall in love and after overcoming some external conflicts and obstacles they live happily ever after. Cue happy music and closing credits. I know this sounds cynical, but this is the absolute truth. This formulaic plot synopsis has been used countless times and I really wish it would stop. Take this plot; add a foreign setting, caricaturesque cultural stereotypes, and painfully bad writing and we have the film LEAP YEAR.
Starring Amy Adams, LEAP YEAR tells the story of Anna, a successful young woman who plans to surprise her boyfriend Jeremy (Adam Scott), a cardiologist attending a conference in Dublin, Ireland. According to Irish tradition, February 29 is the only acceptable day for a woman to propose marriage to a man. Anna who has been anxiously waiting for Jeremy to pop the question, romantically wants to propose on Leap Day. Unfortunately for Anna (and audiences), inclement weather forces her flight to land early and away from Dublin. Anna ends up in a rural inn where she convinces the innkeeper Declan (Matthew Goode) to drive her to her destination. Due to Anna?s naïveté and clumsiness, more complications that arise along the way threaten to derail her plans. Things get even more complicated when the once clashing Anna and Declan develop romantic feelings for one another.
Director Anand Tucker (SHOPGIRL), working with veteran cinematographer Thomas Newton Sigel does a beautiful job presenting the lovely countryside of Ireland. That sentence basically declares the only positive aspect of this film. The script by writing team Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont (MADE OF HONOR) is horrible! Starting off with a cookie cutter romantic comedy plot and a paint-by-numbers cast of characters, the screenplay is redundant and cliché with ridiculously bad humor and a predictable resolution. The supporting Irish characters forcefully play up the stereotypes. Kaplan and Elfont may as well have written them all as Leprechauns. At least that would have been more entertaining. As I sat in my theater seat, I felt absolutely frustrated with the writing in this movie. It did not help that Kaplan, Elfont, and Adams create an annoying character in Anna.
Amy Adams, who I do like in films JUNEBUG, DOUBT, and JULIE & JULIA, made me want to pull my hair out. The problem is I don?t have any hair to pull out! I?m freaking bald! Adams acting does not pain me. She nails the Anna character perfectly. She succeeds in bringing one of the most annoying female lead characters to life. I could not see any reason why either Jeremy or Declan would want to be with her. There is a reason Jeremy has not proposed to Anna. She is a major pain in the ass to the highest degree! That is probably the reason Jeremy doesn?t invite her on the trip to begin with. He is running away. As for Declan, I cannot realistically see him falling for Anna.
Matthew Goode?s performance of Declan does not really bring anything special to the film. His acting fell flat for me. The only reason his performance held my attention was that I was trying to decipher through his heavy exaggerated Irish accent what he is saying most of the time in this movie. The rest of the cast does not offer much in terms of performance either. I already expressed my feelings regarding the supporting Irish characters. Adam Scott as Jeremy is not given much to do in this film except spout off a few medical terms and act slightly snooty. John Lithgow, who I think is a brilliant actor, is sadly underused in a very brief cameo as Anna?s father Jack. The focus of this film remains on the ludicrous romance between Declan and Anna.
I left this film grateful that it was over, but with an annoying headache. That is how frustrated I was with this movie. I really wish I had that device from ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, so that I can erase this painful movie experience from my memory. I urge film lovers to avoid this movie. If interested in a romantic comedy with similar themes, there are much better ones out there. Rent John Ford?s THE QUIET MAN starring John Wayne as a retired boxer who moves to Ireland and falls in love with native woman Maureen O?hara. This is a lovely, romantic, and very funny, classic film. So while I may be very cynical, I am not completely cold hearted and have a romantic side to my personality. LEAP YEAR failed to arouse that part of me.
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