Movie Minx: Leap Year
I love Amy Adams. I am a sucker for a sweet romantic comedy. I was very excited to see Leap Year when my good friend Kella invited me to the screening. Having said all that, I am very sorry to her for the review I'm about to right. I hope it doesn't detract from the enjoyment she got from the film.
The best thing about Leap Year was the Irish scenery, but I'd rather watch Waking Ned Devine which has great Irish scenery AND a delightful story
The plot for Leap Year sounded cute: After more than 4 years together, Anna (Amy Adams)'s boyfriend still hasn't proposed so she takes matters into her own hands and decides to follow him to Ireland to take advantage of an old Irish tradition which allows women to pop the question to their men on February 29th. You can only imagine what turmoil awaits in the path to her destination. The adorable Irish lad who helps her along her journey can teach her a thing or two about life and love, no doubt. There's great potential for sparks and hilarity but somehow on all sides the story is just either too weak or too outrageous. Anna's type A personality came off entirely unsympathetic to me, and if I'm not rooting for the heroine to get her happy ending, I tend to lose interest in her plight. The predictability of the script was only the starting point of its faults. We all know from the get-go that the boyfriend she wants to propose to is going to be the wrong guy for her in the end, but they cast him as such a creepy looking guy I didn't even want him to be on the screen at all.
Seriously, how big is this guy's head? Adam Scott is his name, but I've never heard of him before despite quite a big and diverse repertoire including Knocked Up, Monster-in-Law, The Matador, The Aviator, and appearances on CSI Miami, 6 Feet Under, and Eastbound and Down. His look just turns me right off.
On the other hand, the Irish Romeo is played by Matthew Goode who is reasonably attractive. I haven't seen any of his previous movies except for Match Point but will definitely move Brideshead Revisited as well as A Single Man higher on my "gotta see that soon" list. He played his role well, even though the writing was abysmal for his character. His accent is undeniably cute.
He's quirky looking, but in a cute way. I am surprised they didn't cast someone a bit more well-known, but there's a good chance that Matthew Goode the actor will be more well-known if he keeps toiling away at his craft.
There were so many little things that distracted me (the inconsistent lighting in the bedroom during the night scene, the way her trench-coat went from mud covered to clean from one scene to the next, and why was the guy still around to "help her get to Dublin" even after his car was wrecked?!) The abundance of little things like that took me right out of the story and into reality with a tremendous succession of "why"s on my lips. It takes a considerable number of inconsistencies to suck me out of the narrative when I'm watching a romantic comedy. In Leap Year I couldn't feel the romance or the comedy. I even thought the Ugly Truth or Music and Lyrics had more sympathetic leads and therefore were more enjoyable movies. Take Katherine Heigl's character in The Ugly Truth: she was a type A annoying control freak but you still LIKED her and wanted her to find love. Amy Adam's Anna in Leap Year is NOT very likable. Her "annoying but cute" habits turn out to just be annoying. I'm sorry to say all that. I really wanted to like Leap Year, and I fully expected to when I sat down for it, but I walked out feeling disappointed. There are WAY better rom-coms out there, it's too bad I haven't seen a really good one for a while.
If you can suck it up, Leap Year may make an okay date movie (there were tons of people at the same screening as me who loved it), but I just don't think it's worth the price at the theater. Rent it instead: It's mediocre at best.
