Movie Review: “Leap Year”

Seen on: January 4, 2010

The players: Director: Anand Tucker, Writers: Deborah Kaplan, Harry Elfont, Cast: Amy Adams, Matthew Goode, Adam Scott, John Lithgow, Noel O'Donovan

Facts of interest: None.

The plot: A woman heads to Dublin to propose to her boyfriend on Leap Day, but when unexpected weather delays her plans, she asks a charming innkeeper to drive her to her final destination.

Our thoughts: Ladies and gentlemen, we have our first sucker of 2010: Anand Tucker’s overly predictable “Leap Year,” a dreadful romantic comedy that’s about as amusing as a soggy piece of toast. I generally enjoy watching both Amy Adams and Matthew Goode on the big screen, but in this train wreck, they sure look out of place.

Anna (Adams) and Jeremy (Adam Scott) have been together for a long time, and if there’s one thing Anna really wants, it’s a shiny engagement ring on her finger. Sadly, Jeremy is too preoccupied with work to take proper care of his girlfriend, and when he travels to Dublin to attend a conference, Anna decides to take matters into her own hands.

More specifically, this means heading out to Dublin to get engaged to Jeremy on Leap Day, an Irish tradition that allows women to propose to men. As fate would have it, however, bad weather causes Anna to get stranded in a tiny Irish village, where she’s recruiting a charming innkeeper (Goode) to drive her to her final destination.

If you’ve seen the movie’s trailer, you’ve basically seen the entire film already, and if you haven’t, it’s not hard to guess what happens next in “Leap Year,” one of the emptiest, most tedious big-screen romances I’ve seen in a long time. I know January is typically the month for bad comedies and all, but this comes close to an insulting experience.

The absence of a decent story and lack of humor and romance cause the film to fall apart early on, forcing the shallow characters to jump around like monkeys in a series of desperate attempts to keep the audience’s attention. I’m sorry, but Anna’s excessive clumsiness is by all means more obnoxious than cute.

Then there’s Goode’s bearded Declan, who isn’t really convincing when he plays angry or when he’s putting on one of his wide smiles. Adams and Goode both have undeniable charm, sure, but in “Leap Year,” we don’t get a taste of it. Instead, we’re stuck watching two annoying characters acting like children with too much time on their hands.

Anyway, most of the dialogue between Declan and Anna just sounds unconvincing, and the little fights they share during the film’s first half are as trite as they are repetitive. As the story progresses the two start warming up to each other, but by then, it’s way too late to look for any kind of hope in this thing.

What “Leap Year” has going for it are the gorgeous landscapes, and luckily, there’s a lot of beautiful nature to observe while Adams and Goode are going at it. Alas, gorgeous scenery doesn’t help make the film any better; it merely works as a welcomed distraction from all their painful chitchats.

Freaky quote: "You fried the whole village!" - Matthew Goode

The final word: There’s not need for me to go into any detail here, primarily because “Leap Year” just isn’t worth it. The film switches to auto pilot five minutes in, and for the remainder of its running time, all we’re treated to are bad jokes, useless fights, and a road trip that pretty much runs out of gas before it even kicks off..

Article by Franck Tabouring