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No Nutritional Value: Leap Year
Jun. 9th, 2010 12:56 pmThis may be the first movie in this series to really, truly earn the "no nutritional value" nomenclature, seeing as saccharin is an artificial, zero-calorie sweetener and romantic "comedies" never seem to be sweetened with anything else.
Leap Year is a movie I remembered only after I started watching it. What I remembered was a review--either in the NYT or by Roger Ebert--that could not make sense of why the movie doesn't quite work but can't really be considered a failure either. It hits its marks, the leads have decent enough chemistry, and the premise is suitably flimsy that it is promptly forgot (until the requisite boy-loses-girl moment) when the two leads get thrown together.
Perhaps the problem is that in an effort to justify the bad qualities of the romantic pairing, the film offers realistic, heart-breakingly underplayed backstories for both characters. Amy Adams runs through her take-charge, make a perfect and empty life for herself stereotype with her usual piping vigor. Matthew Goode (who I hadn't seen playing a straight character ever, so it was nice to see him in another role where he could) is the slouch, uncouth driver with no sense of the border between frankness and rudeness. You're supposed to cheer for him teaching her to loosen up and appreciate the rough-and-tumble pleasures of life. You're supposed to cheer for her to bring him out of his self-imposed exile from a lot of humanity. True love! Conquers all! Closing Credits!
The only trouble is that both characters have not unreasonable pathologies considering their pasts, and the changes that need to happen for both of them are so gradual and small that they can't be properly contained in your typical Romantic Comedy Formula (TM). The film also seems to want to shy clear of melodrama, so it brings up these background goodies and then dismisses them for the RCF(TM) staples of the "oops, they think we're a couple and now we have to act like it" variety. Amy Adams has one of the best, most intelligent means of determining which of her two suitors is the better person that I have ever seen in a film, and it is ruined by the one boyfriend's over-the-top reaction when the simplicity of Matthew Goode's reaction would have sufficed to show up the other man.
That aspect of the movie--of the tropes of romantic comedies past bearing down on an otherwise small and sad story--keeps Leap Year from being great. We have to have the Hair-brained Scheme, the constant requirement that one or both of the prospective couple behave like a crazy person/asshole for no reason (but not to such a degree that we fear they won't make it 4-ev-ahs!), the original boyfriend who seems nice enough until we learn he's a total douche-drinking scuzz, etc. etc. It didn't need these aspects to be charming--part of Matthew Goode's characters woes are resolved in a very British-blue-collar movie way--and it's a pity that they didn't trust their own work enough to let it just be charming.
So, Leap Year. Worth a watch--Matthew Goode's Irish accent and exceedingly easy-on-the-eyes screen presence are worth the view alone--just remember that that's not sugar you're tasting.
Favorite line/scene: Amy Adams and Matthew Goode are caught in a hailstorm, and they're running into a church for shelter. He's stunned by the hail, bursts in shouting...
Declan: Jesus Christ!
[Entire congregation, including the minister and the two people getting married turn around at the outburst.]
Anna: ...is Lord!
Leap Year is a movie I remembered only after I started watching it. What I remembered was a review--either in the NYT or by Roger Ebert--that could not make sense of why the movie doesn't quite work but can't really be considered a failure either. It hits its marks, the leads have decent enough chemistry, and the premise is suitably flimsy that it is promptly forgot (until the requisite boy-loses-girl moment) when the two leads get thrown together.
Perhaps the problem is that in an effort to justify the bad qualities of the romantic pairing, the film offers realistic, heart-breakingly underplayed backstories for both characters. Amy Adams runs through her take-charge, make a perfect and empty life for herself stereotype with her usual piping vigor. Matthew Goode (who I hadn't seen playing a straight character ever, so it was nice to see him in another role where he could) is the slouch, uncouth driver with no sense of the border between frankness and rudeness. You're supposed to cheer for him teaching her to loosen up and appreciate the rough-and-tumble pleasures of life. You're supposed to cheer for her to bring him out of his self-imposed exile from a lot of humanity. True love! Conquers all! Closing Credits!
The only trouble is that both characters have not unreasonable pathologies considering their pasts, and the changes that need to happen for both of them are so gradual and small that they can't be properly contained in your typical Romantic Comedy Formula (TM). The film also seems to want to shy clear of melodrama, so it brings up these background goodies and then dismisses them for the RCF(TM) staples of the "oops, they think we're a couple and now we have to act like it" variety. Amy Adams has one of the best, most intelligent means of determining which of her two suitors is the better person that I have ever seen in a film, and it is ruined by the one boyfriend's over-the-top reaction when the simplicity of Matthew Goode's reaction would have sufficed to show up the other man.
That aspect of the movie--of the tropes of romantic comedies past bearing down on an otherwise small and sad story--keeps Leap Year from being great. We have to have the Hair-brained Scheme, the constant requirement that one or both of the prospective couple behave like a crazy person/asshole for no reason (but not to such a degree that we fear they won't make it 4-ev-ahs!), the original boyfriend who seems nice enough until we learn he's a total douche-drinking scuzz, etc. etc. It didn't need these aspects to be charming--part of Matthew Goode's characters woes are resolved in a very British-blue-collar movie way--and it's a pity that they didn't trust their own work enough to let it just be charming.
So, Leap Year. Worth a watch--Matthew Goode's Irish accent and exceedingly easy-on-the-eyes screen presence are worth the view alone--just remember that that's not sugar you're tasting.
Favorite line/scene: Amy Adams and Matthew Goode are caught in a hailstorm, and they're running into a church for shelter. He's stunned by the hail, bursts in shouting...
Declan: Jesus Christ!
[Entire congregation, including the minister and the two people getting married turn around at the outburst.]
Anna: ...is Lord!
