Monday, January 11, 2024

Leap Year


For Leap Year the real jump will be a leap of faith that this piece of shite doesn't actually smell. A vain romantic comedy starring Amy Adams and Matthew Goode at least sounds promising. It's not like a movie trying to pass off Kate Hudson or Hugh Grant as the new hot thing.
Why do romcoms always have the most implausible set-ups? For Leap Year the conceit is that Adams has traveled to Ireland (from Boston) in order to propose to her boyfriend. Only her flight gets diverted due to bad weather to Wales, so she takes a boat to Ireland and then needs to hire a cab or find a train or bus to Dublin. How much of this superfluous crap do you want to know before Adams hooks up with pub owner Goode and agrees to the price of 500 Euros for him to drive her from Cork Ireland to Dublin. Some of the names of cities are made up. The truth is that the movie has no geographic verisimilitude any more than it has a toehold on logic. The amount of 500 Euros is the equivalent of 726 dollars. I'm not saying that that isn't a fair amount to pay somebody to drive you for five or six hours to a destination; I'm saying how does Adams' character afford such an expenditure since all she does for a living is assist realtors in selling apartment?
John Lithgow has star billing and he's in the movie for like all of a couple of minutes. His character explains the reason why Adams must chase her worthless boyfriend to Ireland.
If you can get past the plot contrivance, yes this is an easy romcom to sit through. Especially with those gorgeous Irish castles and cliffs offered up as set pieces. But the only chemistry in this film is between Goode and Adams and the movie camera. As actors they photograph great, but as lovers they lack serious credibility.

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