Rich’s Quickie: Oh, if movies like this only DID come along once every four years…
I said LEAP, maggot! This stew has a lot going for it; Amy Adams in a fine actress, and even Matthew Goode shows promise on occasion. Supporting actor Adam Scott is likable, and John Lithgow has shown us repeatedly what an asset he can be in any role. Meanwhile, the story of a young woman proposing to her boyfriend of 4 years on February 29th in scenic Ireland is safe enough, and has been created by writers Deborah Kaplan & Harry Elfont, who have had some experience writing romantic comedies such as “Made of Honor” and “Surviving Christmas”, and..
Uh-oh.
Bound: All of these fine ingredients did not make for satisfying cinema stew. What unfolds onscreen is the story of a single-but-taken, successful and presumably independent woman named Anna (Adams), who is also shallow and spoiled – an “arrogant American” as she is later referred to in Ireland. Her father Jack (a wasted and possibly unnecessary Lithgow), apparently constantly tells her the old wives’ tale of how every Leap Year, a woman can ask a man to marry them in Ireland (how very modern). After an application interview for entrance to a posh, exclusive apartment complex is behind them, her successful cardiologist live-in boyfriend Jeremy (Scott), travels to Ireland for a medical convention. Before he leaves, instead of giving her a big fat diamond ring, he presents her with… big fat diamond earrings – awwwwwwww! Tough break. Anna then remembers her dad’s Leap Year tale (and YOU don’t, he retells you AGAIN in a silly voice over), so she plans a surprise trip to Ireland just in time for February 29th so she can pop him the question. Hilarity was to ensue.
What awaits her is nothing short of every stereotypical depiction of Ireland you’ve seen before along with a blatant rip-off of every romantic comedy you’ve ever seen – even ones released just months ago — “The Proposal” comes most quickly to mind. Anna gets help to Dublin by Declan (Goode), your typical scruffy, non-communicative and emotionally wounded barkeep that girls just go nuts for – especially ones who have apparently fallen for quite the opposite kind of man, already. Add some ham-fisted dialogue about Anna’s desire to control everything and not believing luck (of the Irish?), and you know where this is gong as surely as you did when you bought your ticket. Add some typically bad weather that forces our to-be couple off their desired path and into the next Irish set piece (an old bed and breakfast, castle ruins, a charming church – complete with wedding!), and this thing nearly writes itself! Take scenes directly from other movies – people asking the supposedly married couple (makes it easier on the travel arrangements to Dublin) to kiss… seeing each other somewhat nekkid around shower time, having to share a bed (Again – “The Proposal” anyone?), and the outcome is never in doubt, even with the failed attempts at curveballs near the scripts’ end. Yes, after 4 days with said scruffy Irish guy, Anna is questioning whether or not to marry the man she’s known for 4 years. But unlike say, in “The Titanic”, wherein girl leaves rich-but-unloving successful jerk for poor-but-affectionate unsuccessful stranger who actually cares for her, Scott’s Jeremy is a successful nice guy who seems genuinely interested in Anna – or at least as interested in her as she is in him; they BOTH talk to each other while texting, they BOTH have busy careers that take up much of their time, they BOTH are slaves to their Blackberrys, they BOTH want the same trappings, and on and on. But somehow Scruffy Irish Guy who didn’t really treat her well most of the time has stolen her heart (just cook together, apparently), and although she goes through with the engagement to Jeremy, it’s not without some hesitation…
…until back home in the states she discovers through a laughable scene that he may be just as shallow as she is, and runs back to Ireland to Mr. McScruff, whom she is convinced feels the same way about her as she does about him.
Add a dash of slapstick (Anna sliding down a wet hill in the rain! Anna’s $300 show flying off during those crazy Irish weddings and hitting the bride in the face! Anna spilling her drink said bride during her apology for the flying $300 shoe!), some action (McScruff finally acting like a man and defending Anna’s honor in a barroom brawl!) all set to an Irish jig – I swear! Apparently ANYTHING is fun when set to Irish jig background music! And you’ve got yourself a stew! Or at least a recipe for disaster; yet another romantic comedy that is neither very romantic nor funny that sets the women’s movement back by a decade or so.
Leap – don’t walk – to the next theater.
Movie Grade: D
MPAA: Rated PG for sensuality and language
Runtime: 97 min
Director: Anand Tucker
Writers: Deborah Kaplan Harry Elfont
Up front I need to say every “chick flick” is a formula, but it is how that formula is used that can make or break a romantic film.
