Movie Review: Leap Year

I went to see Leap Year recently, and I absolutely loved it. It doesn’t break any new ground as far as romantic comedies go, but sometimes you need a touch of the familiar, right? If you’re in that kind of mood, Leap Year fits the bill perfectly.

I knew I had to see this movie when I saw the trailer and recognized Matthew Goode (if you’ve read my blog you know I have a real weakness for British actors). He does an excellent job with his portrayal of the surly, angsty Declan, balancing everything out with just the right touch of sarcasm and humor. As far as Amy Adams goes, this kind of role is tailor-made for her - a bit moreso than her turn in Julie & Julia in my opinion. She ended up getting on my ever-loving last nerve by the end of J&J, but here she’s straight up completely believable and likable as Anna, the frazzled, desperate to be engaged apartment “stager.” She’s got the perfect life, the perfect boyfriend (Jeremy, played by Adam Scott), and you just know it’s all going to fall apart because Jeremy has this freakishly perfect, Kennedy-esque hair, and mad dedication to his work that spells disaster in rom-com relationships. Since the next step in making the perfect life involves marriage, Anna decides to follow Jeremy to his cardiology convention in Dublin (how convenient & random) and propose on February 29th, since that’s some sort of Irish leap year tradition (who knew?). Of course her plane is diverted, and she happens to show up in Declan’s pub, and since he has money trouble of course he’s going to take the job of seeing Anna to Dublin. You can probably guess where this is going – but the journey is quite fun.

Adams and Goode are so stinking cute together, and the scenery is gorgeous. I wanted to be in this movie in the worst way. The little road trip they take, complete with disaster after disaster, reminded me just a bit of the Clark Gable/Claudette Colbert classic, It Happened One Night. The whole pacing and tone of the movie does have a rather old-fashioned, throwback feel to it. It keeps a snappy pace, and does an excellent job showcasing the Irish scenery. Everything is so wonderfully green, and has such a fantastic, fairy-tale feel to it, I loved every second. Randy Edelman also did a nice job with the score by incorporating some great little Irish-tinged flourishes into the instrumental cues.

Leap Year is a really, really cute film. Loved Adams and Goode’s on-screen chemistry, loved every second Goode was on-screen, loved the scenery and music, and LOVED the end of the movie. Such a great payoff!! It’s one of the sweetest (without being too sappy) romantic comedies to come along in a while – and the fact that there’s some genuine laugh out loud moments instead of only stupid slapstick filler is a nice change too. Leap Year is a fun little movie, definitely worth checking out if you’re in the mood for some Irish-themed escapism.

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