Movie Review: Leap Year

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.

Directed by Anand Tucker

Starring:

Amy Adams as Ana
Matthew Goode as Declan

The Review

Apparently romantic chick-flicks with talented actors and bad lines are not in this season. Who knew.

There's been so much bad stuff said about this movie that I feel like I need to play the devil's advocate here and give it a positive review. There's nothing inherently bad or awful that you're going to see here. It's a story about a girl with a personality that closely resembles OCD, but isn't quite, who goes to Ireland after her boyfriend. Wait, I'm not done. After an unfortunate set of events she gets stranded in a little town, conveniently placed days away from Dublin, where the boyfriend is. In this little town, there's only one inn. If only all small town inns in Ireland were owned by tall, dashing, green-eyed men, we'd all spend considerably more time thinking about visiting said fair country. Then again, PS I Love You is a stone's throw away from my previous statement. If you've seen it, you'll know. What we are to take away from putting these two movies together is that, basically, if you're a girl who goes to Ireland and gets lost while wearing a skirt you're bound to meet a handsome man you can fall in love with. But I digress.

There's this moment in the film when Ana first arrives at the inn, with her heels tap-tapping, and asks around for a bus. Nothing's really happening at this point, but we see Matthew Goode trying to make himself small (not a insignificant feat for someone standing over 6ft) while Ana unleashes her perky conversation on a couple of old men. Some Irish stuff happens and then - he speaks. Gasp! He sounds awfully Irish, but Goode looks good in a flannel shirt and a goatee, so let go and enjoy every octave. There's nothing like the first line of the male protagonist - not even chocolate ice-cream, and that's saying something.

Like all good movies of its kind, Leap Year does something really well: the beginning and half the body. Sure you know what's going to happen after the first 10 minutes, but that's OK. Everything's fresh in the beginning. Ireland is a little damp, I'll admit, but it'll take a breath away once you couple it with Matthew Goode as Declan and a little red car. Oops, did I say something dirty?

Anyway, onto some serious stuff. The real reason why I wanted to write this review is because of the cast. Despite the bad, cliched lines and the even more cliched Louis Vuitton bag Matthew Goode and Amy Adams are a delight. I've praised Adams before and I'll do it again because unlike many of her contemporary peers, she has a real presence on screen. It's not an uncanny Northern European beauty or a pair of long legs and some honey-colored curls that make you want to look at her. It's the very real performance that she gives. Her act is fully baked and well crafted. Goode doesn't really belong in the same praise paragraph as her but hey, I'm feeling generous. Yes, I'm letting him be here mostly because he was utterly charming as the bitter-for-a-reason Declan, inn keeper. Declan is a man of a few words and as such, most of what Goode has to work with comes in the form of amused stares and mildly exasperated shrugs. He does those shrugs very well and he looks good in the meantime. Nothing wrong with that.

Don't expect any out-of-this-world romance from Leap Year. I thought it was cute but most definitely not astounding. Good movie for a rainy day.