Leap Year

If “It’s Complicated” is the inverse of the typical way a movie in the romantic comedy genre goes “Leap Year” is textbook. There isn’t anything that is great about this movie. It’s not memorable. I watched this movie a week ago and don’t really remember much about it. I could probably successfully review a semi decent movie that I saw a year ago with great detail. Amy Adams stars as an American “stager” (Anna Brady), someone that rents furniture and televisions to stage real estate that is for sale for a small fee, who is in love with a doctor named Declan (Matthew Goode). Anna’s friend (Kaitlin Olson) sees Declan leaving a jewelry store in the city and the two jump to the conclusion that he must be proposing. When Anna gets to dinner that night, after having been fitted for a wedding dress earlier in the day, she is met with the gift of a nice set of ear rings. As soon as Declan gives Anna the gift he gets a text message, of something presumably disgusting like the inside of a colon, and has to rush off before leaving for Ireland. Prior to the dinner Anna meets with her father (John Lithgow) and informs him that she is going to be proposed to this evening, jokingly her father mentions that in Ireland on leap day a woman can propose to a man. After the devastation she receives at dinner she does some research of the folk lore and decides that she should go to Ireland and try and propose to Declan. After some bumps in the road she arrives in a small village where she meets Jeremy (Adam Scott) and he drives her to Dublin to propose to Declan. It’s pretty run of the mill from then on, normal things happen to Jeremy and Anna. You can probably deduce what happens after they arrive, it may vary a little from your standard equation but the answer is still the mean. I found some serious problems with the film, first there is never really any interaction between Anna and Jeremy that would spell love. I understand love at first sight, as a concept, but it clearly isn’t that between the two of them. There isn’t much talking, there love isn’t transcending languages or anything they just happen to be in love by the time that they reach Dublin after a two day trip. The movie builds Anna up as a high maintenance lady who carries around Louis Vuitton suitcases but is content with the ragged, pup owning, Jeremy that drives a beater in the movie. I wouldn’t recommend this movie to anyone when you can easily watch a different terrible romantic comedy that you undoubtedly already have in your collection. If are an Amy Adams fan and are looking for a “Doubt” or “Julie and Julia” performance don’t get your hopes up, think more along the lines of “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian” performance. Good viewing.
JP