Leap Year: Two Thumbs Down
When I first saw the Leap Year in trailers, I squealed to my boyfriend, “We have got to see that one!” And true enough, I couldn’t wait to see it so I Google-ed it, downloaded a pirated version, and saw it last night after Confessions of a Shopaholic. Just the same, I couldn’t wait to write the movie review. Oh I’m far from amazed alright. I’m positively dumbfounded.
It’s one heck of a predictable movie. The moment you see Adam’s character, Anna, wiping the bar’s countertop with a napkin, you can stop the movie right there because from the trailer itself, you can bet your family’s heirloom that she’ll meet a handsome (what up?) stranger who’s opposed to her OC ways but falls for her nonetheless. It’s like watching the 27 Dresses all over again!
Leap Year has all the features of a predictable, shallow, and boring romantic-comedy:
1. Crazy girl character gets stuck with a dashing, mysterious, and slightly annoying male lead.
2. City girl makes a fool of herself in the country and gets branded for bringing the city attitude with her.
3. Mysterious male lead refuses to reveal a long forgotten heartbreak.
4. Girl helps male lead to loosen up (vice versa).
Bonus: After the trailers, they add another corny scene of the new couple.
Leap Year is boring that I actually lost count of how many times I hit fast forward. If you’re a big fan of Enchanted, Amy Adams didn’t bring the flair in this film so lower your expectations. The male lead, Declan (Matthew Goode), is scruffy in the film and definitely not the handsome, mysterious stranger of the whole rom-com franchise. Well, maybe the beard has something to do with the whole Irish theme the movie is trying to exude. And sure enough, the movie has a generous offering of old Irish men, folklore, old wives’ tales, bad lucks, and black cats. They all failed.
Chasing Liberty(Matthew Goode is always chasing lost women, ne?)
Leap Year
(Matthew Goode is always chasing lost women, ne?)
When Anna and Declan reached the part where they pretended to be newly weds so they can stay at the inn managed by an old couple, it suddenly hit me how the story is similar with Mandy Moore’s Chasing Liberty. A quick Google search this morning revealed that Matthew Goode also played the male lead, Ben, in Chasing Liberty. I’ve always thought that Mandy Moore is a bad actress (except in A Walk to Remember), but after seeing Leap Year last night, maybe Chasing Liberty wasn’t so bad after all, mainly because Goode looked better, fitter, and hotter there.
So, what is Leap Year about?
Oh, I almost forgot about the plot. The story is about an empowered woman going out of her way (and out of the country) to follow an old Irish tradition of proposing to her boyfriend on February 29, the Leap Year. The adventure includes the common shenanigans: getting sidetracked, lost, bullied, and falling in love for another man in less than a week and getting married in less than a month.
My Two Cents
My friends always describe me as an empowered (and sometimes enraged) woman and I’ve always believed that whatever men can do (except get someone pregnant), women can do too (or even better). But asking a man for marriage? Nah.
Declan is right. It’s a sick thing women do to get men, who don’t want to get married, tied down. I wouldn’t want that. When I get married, I want all the clichés: the surprise and mega-effort proposal, the engagement ring, and the man asking for my hand in marriage. Not the other way around.
So, let me quote another review I read: Leap Year is the worst film of 2010…so far. Valentine’s Day just upped itself a notch in my book.
It’s one heck of a predictable movie. The moment you see Adam’s character, Anna, wiping the bar’s countertop with a napkin, you can stop the movie right there because from the trailer itself, you can bet your family’s heirloom that she’ll meet a handsome (what up?) stranger who’s opposed to her OC ways but falls for her nonetheless. It’s like watching the 27 Dresses all over again!
Leap Year has all the features of a predictable, shallow, and boring romantic-comedy:
1. Crazy girl character gets stuck with a dashing, mysterious, and slightly annoying male lead.
2. City girl makes a fool of herself in the country and gets branded for bringing the city attitude with her.
3. Mysterious male lead refuses to reveal a long forgotten heartbreak.
4. Girl helps male lead to loosen up (vice versa).
5. Other characters urge them to kiss, they protest, but ends up kissing anyway and falling for each other.
6. City girl goes to her boyfriend, breaks male lead’s heart.
7. City girl and jerk boyfriend breaks.
8. City girl or male lead going after the other.
9. Corniest profession of love.
10. They live happily ever after.
Bonus: After the trailers, they add another corny scene of the new couple.
Leap Year is boring that I actually lost count of how many times I hit fast forward. If you’re a big fan of Enchanted, Amy Adams didn’t bring the flair in this film so lower your expectations. The male lead, Declan (Matthew Goode), is scruffy in the film and definitely not the handsome, mysterious stranger of the whole rom-com franchise. Well, maybe the beard has something to do with the whole Irish theme the movie is trying to exude. And sure enough, the movie has a generous offering of old Irish men, folklore, old wives’ tales, bad lucks, and black cats. They all failed.
Chasing Liberty(Matthew Goode is always chasing lost women, ne?)
Leap Year(Matthew Goode is always chasing lost women, ne?)
When Anna and Declan reached the part where they pretended to be newly weds so they can stay at the inn managed by an old couple, it suddenly hit me how the story is similar with Mandy Moore’s Chasing Liberty. A quick Google search this morning revealed that Matthew Goode also played the male lead, Ben, in Chasing Liberty. I’ve always thought that Mandy Moore is a bad actress (except in A Walk to Remember), but after seeing Leap Year last night, maybe Chasing Liberty wasn’t so bad after all, mainly because Goode looked better, fitter, and hotter there.
So, what is Leap Year about?
Oh, I almost forgot about the plot. The story is about an empowered woman going out of her way (and out of the country) to follow an old Irish tradition of proposing to her boyfriend on February 29, the Leap Year. The adventure includes the common shenanigans: getting sidetracked, lost, bullied, and falling in love for another man in less than a week and getting married in less than a month.
My Two Cents
My friends always describe me as an empowered (and sometimes enraged) woman and I’ve always believed that whatever men can do (except get someone pregnant), women can do too (or even better). But asking a man for marriage? Nah.
Declan is right. It’s a sick thing women do to get men, who don’t want to get married, tied down. I wouldn’t want that. When I get married, I want all the clichés: the surprise and mega-effort proposal, the engagement ring, and the man asking for my hand in marriage. Not the other way around.
So, let me quote another review I read: Leap Year is the worst film of 2010…so far. Valentine’s Day just upped itself a notch in my book.
