'Leap Year' / Universal Pictures
"Leap Year" is three movies you've already seen.
It is part "fish out of water" high-maintenance city girl in a rural backdrop, part strained pairing of grumpy guy / sweet girl and part road trip movie.
Organized career woman Anna (Amy Adams) is preparing to buy a home with her longtime boyfriend Jeremy (Adam Scott). But after four years of dating, Anna tires of waiting for him to pop the question. An old Irish tradition – wherein a man who is proposed to on leap day must accept – prompts Anna to take matters into her own hands. She races off to Dublin – where Jeremy has traveled for work – to propose … when a storm grounds her flight. Anna is forced to ask Declan, a surly Irish innkeeper (Matthew Goode), to help her make it to Dublin before Feb. 29th. (Watch the trailer)
But even the incredibly talented Adams cannot save this cobbled-together and lethargic jaunt through the Irish backcountry.
“Leap Year” is a series of scenes awkwardly slapped together – there are few legitimate (or even realistic) transitions. For example, Anna is reluctant to climb a nearby picturesque hill because she might miss her train – which is more than two hours away. Of course she is coaxed into walking up the hill, but not because Declan cons, convinces or sweet talks her into the stroll. Anna leaves the comfort of her train station bench … because a dog snarls at her. Her character voices no fear of dogs and that pooch is never seen or heard from again. The dog is just a cheap reason for the movie to switch from the train station to the ruins of an Irish castle.
The rest of the film is cows that come out of nowhere, a storm so terrible it halts virtually all forms of travel and sketchy brakes pads that fail at just the wrong moment. Seemingly random events pop up from time to time, apparently only to keep the film chugging along.
Then there’s the whole ‘Irish leap year tradition’ premise. If you don’t manage to catch the reason Anna trudges across Ireland, well don’t worry because the whole Irish tradition concept will be explained over and over and over again. John Lithgow’s only scene in the film provides a lengthy explanation of the tradition – only for Anna to research the tradition online and subsequently explain it several more times after she heads off to Ireland.
While even a poorly put-together movie can still entertaining, the real deathblow for Amy Adams’ latest film is its utter lack of energy. There’s little sense of dramatic tension, even though the clock is constantly running on Anna’s apparently doomed journey to Dublin. There’s just a minimal amount of concern whether Anna gets to her boyfriend before ‘leap day’ – most of it in comments made in passing. It never truly feels like Anna absolutely must get to Dublin as fast as possible. Instead, we often see her waiting for a bus or walking (very slowly) down Irish roads. (Also, the aforementioned poorly conceived scene transitions kill any and all momentum the film manages to build.)
All that said, “Leap Year” is still a likeable little rom-com – even if it’s light on the laughs.
The Anna-Declan relationship develops at methodic pace, which allows their relationship to change organically, without feeling jarring at all. Adams is able to save her character from slipping into the stereotypical ‘fussy city gal’ plucked from the high rises of Boston and dropped into rural Europe. She is firm and driven without becoming annoying or whiney. Matthew Goode (last seen in last year’s acclaimed “A Single Man” as well as “Watchmen”) effectively pulls off a grumpy, non-romantic man who somehow remains charming.
Yes, “Leap Year” is a basic story you’ve seen a million times – but it is nowhere near as repellant as “The Ugly Truth” or as cheesy as “My Life in Ruins.” (For the record, “The Proposal” successfully pulled off a completely overused story and still managed to create an incredibly entertaining piece of film.)
Final verdict: If you must see “Leap Year,” wait until its inevitable basic cable run. This is a mildly funny, genuinely sweet but far from perfect little romantic comedy.
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