Leap Year

MOVIE #1,407 • 🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿 • 02.29.24 Well today is Leap Day, so in honor of that bullshit, I’m going to be reviewing two movies called Leap Year that both came out in 2010. This first is an Amy Adams joint: a classic romcom in every which way, that I both was completely unaware of and also (shocker!) really enjoyed. This is essentially Planes, Trains and Automobiles but instead of two buffons getting home to Chicago for Thanksgiving, Amy Adams has to get to Dublin before Leap Day in order to utilize an ancient Irish tradition that states it's alright for a woman to propose to a man on that day and that day only. Putting aside the gender politics, that is a paper-thin setup, but also: aka the sweet spot for a movie of this ilk. In the John Candy role (I suppose) is British actor Matthew Goode, who I remember seeing in Woody Allen’s Match Point and not much else, but he’s very… goode. (SORRY)

Let’s also ignore the fact that Amy Adams spends more time on this futile journey almost immediately than if she had simply waited for the flight to Dublin the following morning. I appreciate how easy it is to forgive such glaring flaws when their packaged within the romcom genre, because this has everything you’re looking for: bursts of slapstick, fish out of water stuff, opposites attract, chivalry, cliches, making fun of cliches, getting caught in the rain, getting caught in the hail and crashing a wedding, and romance of course, the whole nine.

There's some great Irish landscapes and a lovely scene at a castle that they mostly filmed in front of a green screen. There's so much green screen actually. But I kind of loved how bad it looked…



I never watch movies like this and I forget that I'm not totally immune to their charm. Yeah, I said it. I don't go deep, but this seems like an excellent entry in the genre, is it not? It delivers the good(e)s! Adam Scott plays the would-be fiancé and, while he seemed like a dork, I was a bit unsure how they would realistically turn him into a scoundrel worthy of Amy Adams blowing up her long-term relationship to end up with the Irishman. But the twist is actually kind of subtle and smart. This film is filled with little details that elevate it, as well. Like the metaphor of Adams’s job as a real estate ‘stager’ and how this represents inauthenticity, the artifice inherent in that and how it's symbolic of her being trapped in a fake life from which she’s subconsciously trying to break free of. But also it’s a film where her shoe flies off and hits the bride of a wedding they’ve crashed…

---

CHRONOLOGICALLY
⫷ MOVIE #1,406 - (YOU ARE HERE) - MOVIE #1,408 ⫸

---

Leap Year is a 2010 romantic comedy directed by Anand Tucker and written by Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan. Leap Year stars Amy Adams and Matthew Goode. It was released on January 6, 2010.