Leap Year aka Matthew Goode as a romantic hero with facial hair
{FILM DIARY}
Leap Year (USA/Ireland, 2010)
Seen: Saturday, 20th February 2010 (cinema)
Runtime: 100′
Director: Anand Tucker
Cast: Amy Adams, Matthew Goode
Production House: Universal Pictures, Spyglass Entertainment
Plot: (from imdb)
A woman who has an elaborate scheme to propose to her boyfriend on Leap Day, an Irish tradition which occurs every time the date February 29 rolls around, faces a major setback when bad weather threatens to derail her planned trip to Dublin. With the help of an innkeeper, however, her cross-country odyssey just might result in her getting engaged.
Scene From The Film
Impressions In Short
I don’t know if it was the facial hair, the accent or something else, but I actually enjoyed Matthew Goode for a change ;) Amy Adams was a lot of fun too. And the film was an enjoyable romance, but nothing special.
More About the Film
It has the sort of plot that would usually stereotype characters according to their nationalities, but here they’re written as individuals. Amy Adams’ character could have been exaggerated so easily and yet the way she played it and the way it was written was very real. I’ve known people like that.
There were some cringeworthy plot points like when Declan mopes at somebody else’s wedding and it’s so obvious that he’s nursing a broken heart from ages back. But then when Anna asks him about it, he just gets angry with her and tells her nothing, which was a lot more real, but so rarely done in these sorts of films (you’d usually have him grudgingly spilling out his heart or something). I thought this was one of the stronger aspects of the film - they were never heavy handed with the emotional development of the characters, even if the plot itself made you roll your eyes.
The weakest point is the plot and idea itself I suppose. There’s something very generic about it and one knows how the story will evolve and what kind of jokes we’re going to get from very early on.
Recommended?
If romantic comedy is your thing then you’ll probably be happy with it (unless you’re fussy ;)). If it’s not then don’t see it - you’re unlikely to enjoy it I think.
