Romantic comedy movies are pretty much unchallenging and don't make Oscar lists, and Leap Year is no exception to this. That said, not all films are made to be high art.
Attractive cast, attractive scenery and some funny dialogue save this film from being a total dud.
Ireland in this kind of film is always portrayed as slightly soft focus, "fiddle dee dee", and full of character stereotypes. Imagine people laughing in pubs and exchanging "banter".
The plot is predictable - super organised American Anna ends up through increasingly ridiculous circumstances in a small West Coast village and meets Declan, the local publican whose wife left him for another man, so of course he's somewhat seemingly bitter and jaded about romance and the apparent tradition of women asking men to marry them on February 29th - leap day. He ends up being roped in to taking Anna to Dublin to propose to her boyfriend who is apparently at some heart surgeon conference. Through various ridiculous situations Anna and Declan fall for one another, and you can pretty much guess the rest. This film could have been written by an algorithm such is the predictably!
That said, it isn't too bad - it's an easy watch, with some decent dialogue in parts and the leads play their cliched roles very well. Just don't expect any surprises or shocks along the way. You know how it will end before it even really starts.
Matthew Goode is known as saying he didn't like the film, and perhaps as an actor he has a point. But he does well with the thin material here and pulls off a fairly convincing accent.
Don't come to this film with any lofty expectations and you'll enjoy it. 90 minutes or thereabouts of unchallenging romantic comedy.
Attractive cast, attractive scenery and some funny dialogue save this film from being a total dud.
Ireland in this kind of film is always portrayed as slightly soft focus, "fiddle dee dee", and full of character stereotypes. Imagine people laughing in pubs and exchanging "banter".
The plot is predictable - super organised American Anna ends up through increasingly ridiculous circumstances in a small West Coast village and meets Declan, the local publican whose wife left him for another man, so of course he's somewhat seemingly bitter and jaded about romance and the apparent tradition of women asking men to marry them on February 29th - leap day. He ends up being roped in to taking Anna to Dublin to propose to her boyfriend who is apparently at some heart surgeon conference. Through various ridiculous situations Anna and Declan fall for one another, and you can pretty much guess the rest. This film could have been written by an algorithm such is the predictably!
That said, it isn't too bad - it's an easy watch, with some decent dialogue in parts and the leads play their cliched roles very well. Just don't expect any surprises or shocks along the way. You know how it will end before it even really starts.
Matthew Goode is known as saying he didn't like the film, and perhaps as an actor he has a point. But he does well with the thin material here and pulls off a fairly convincing accent.
Don't come to this film with any lofty expectations and you'll enjoy it. 90 minutes or thereabouts of unchallenging romantic comedy.