Leap Year is one of those movies that had an interesting concept that didn’t go anywhere with it. While having a great cast with Amy Adams, Michael Goode and Adam Scott, the actors are underused by a bland script, acting, and cinematography.
The Main Story
Leap Year is about a woman, Anna (Amy Adams), who is applying for an expensive and exclusive apartment with her boyfriend Jeremy (Adam Scott). Disappointed by her boyfriend not proposing to her after 4 years of dating, she finds out from her manic father (John Lithgow in the most shoehorned, tiniest role ever) that in her family’s native Ireland, there is a tradition where a woman can propose to her boyfriend on February 29th in the Leap Year. Since her boyfriend is conveniently traveling to Dublin for a cardiologist convention (yes, her boyfriend is a cardiologist), she decides to go to Ireland to propose to him, getting stranded in the Irish countryside where she meets Declan (Matthew Goode), an owner of a crumbling hotel/restaurant, whom she falls in love with by the end.
Script and Cinematography
The script and cinematography of this film is bland. I understand that Ireland (and the UK in general) doesn’t have the best weather therefore the scenery can’t pop out but most of the film is spent on a muddy road or inside bars and bed in breakfasts. When I first heard about this film, I was excited because Ireland is such a beautiful country that has the potential for beautiful shots and explore the green landscape but it was only in a couple of moments. In the middle of the film, there is a green screen shot of the main actors looking at Ireland that is so obviously pasted in that you can’t get into the scene. The most beautiful shot of the film is at the end when the couple gets together and it’s too late by then to care.
As far as the script is concerned, it’s bland and elements of the story are forced. I understand all chick flicks have a concept that has some suspension of disbelief but none of the forced elements here are used properly. Anna works as an apartment fitter, someone who fixes up apartments and houses with furniture for open houses so they can be sold. This concept isn’t explored beyond the beginning 10 minutes. It explains her love for the apartment she’s applying for with her boyfriend and that’s about it. The film pulls a rug out from under you when you think she would help fix Declan’s business but that doesn’t happen. Beyond that, the audience is told that the reason Anna loves fixing things and is a tight ass because her father is a manic who would badly invest their money, leaving her to work as a teenager and their home being reposed on Christmas Eve (good lord, what a bad cliché).
There are way too many convenient accidents for Anna to not get to Dublin to propose to her boyfriend. At several points of the film, Anna is stopped from going to Dublin by: her plane getting detoured in Wales by a storm, a boat (in a freaking storm that stopped planes!) having to leave her in the Irish country with Declan, Declan’s car running into a pond, her missing a train to Dublin, and then her missing the chance to go to Dublin with the bed and breakfast manager. All of this despite the fact she could have proposed to her boyfriend at any time. I love chick flicks but it seemed like God and universe was telling her that she shouldn’t get married.
Characters
In the first 20 minutes, Amy Adams’s character Anna is so lifeless that you can’t connect with her. As the main protagonist, you have to connect with the character at the beginning of the film but nothing is there. This is shocking since Amy Adams is a great actress who has done some decent female leads in romantic comedies before (see Enchanted). Anna has no personality, not even being that stuck up in moments when she is suppose to be with the rough Irish Declan.
Matthew Goode is okay. He has some personality, being a jaded Decaln who hates Dublin and has declining restaurant/hotel. He has some good lines and Matthew Goode is great to look at. Declan has a forced backstory of him, his fiancée, and his best friend buying the hotel/restaurant, only for the other two to run away with each other in Dublin, hence why he hates that city. This would be interesting it wasn’t just put in for 5 minutes. Near the end of the film, he meets his ex-fiancée for less than 2 minutes to resolve his problems. It was unnecessary to have him resolve this on screen. Matthew Goode half asses this role, bringing some bright lights of comedy when he is antagonizing Amy Adams but that’s about it. Goode even told people that this was his worse film and the reason he did it was because he could travel back to London on the weekends.
There is a small supporting cast in this movie. Adam Scott is a great actor that is beyond plain here. The film tries to make him superficial and conceited to contrast how Amy Adams has grown but that doesn’t even work. It seems like all character was sucked out of his body and he was just a shell of what a great actor he is. John Lithgow is in this movie for less than 3 minutes to explain the concept of the Leap Year proposal in the beginning of the film and that’s it. A great comedic actor is wasted in such a small scene. The scene breaks down as follows:
At a random bar, Anna is waiting for father, father comes in.
Father: you got engaged!
Anna: yeah (but not really)
Father: oh yeah, your grandma proposed to your grandpa using the Leap Year Tradition!
Anna: Oh really? Okay bye, got to go fall in love with someone I only know for three days instead of the thing you said!
End Scene
That’s it. You don’t receive an explanation about him until about two-thirds of the way into the film and even then, it does little receive any interest.
The Romance
Amy Adams and Matthew Goode don’t have much chemistry. While Matthew Goode’s character is a little witty, Amy Adams's character doesn’t have any personality to work off it. Both of the characters back stories are forcibility introduced too late into the film to developed any sort of background for the audience to care about the leads. There is no reason to like or even remember the two. They are two good looking people put together just because they are good looking. At the end of the film, Declan ends up proposing to Anna! Even in chick flick standards, this was unwarranted! They spent three days with each other when she was with her boyfriend for 4 years! Even the contestants on the Bachelor have more time to fall in love with the main guy!
Last Opinion
Overall, this film is mediocre. It doesn’t work with what it’s given. It has some fun ideas (the Leap Year proposal, the Irish countryside, the apartment fixer job, and the hotel/restaurant) that were left to the wayside to give to some dumb scenes in which the main characters half ass bicker at each other while traveling through the greyed out Irish country, which is not used to it’s full potential. The film would have been better if they would have restricted it to the hotel/restaurant and had Adams help Goode into fixing up the place and then they would fall in love. It would have been cliché but at least that would leave the character some room to grow. The romance is unbelievable because there is no chemistry between the two, which is needed when you have the chick flick trope hate-turn-to-love relationship . I give this movie a 3.5/10. If you’re a Matthew Goode fan and you think he’s attractive, I would say you could watch this in the background but if not, skip this.
No comments:
Post a Comment