Blu-Ray Review: ‘Leap Year’ Represents the Nadir of Romantic Comedy

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CHICAGO – Amy Adams is one of the most charming, appealing, and brilliant actresses working in Hollywood today. Sure, she’s often been typecast in sweetly naive roles, and could definitely benefit from a change of pace. But seriously, who thought it was a good idea to cast her as a bitchy micromanager, first in the disappointing “Julie & Julia,” and now in this cataclysmic disaster? It’s yet another instance of Hollywood’s consistent gift for wasting talent.

“Leap Year” is the one-trillionth rip-off of “It Happened One Night,” and certainly the worst since “The Ugly Truth.” I’m frankly sick to death of the whole “spoiled-woman-paired-with-male-chauvinist” formula. It’s antiquated, predictable, and representative of a much more misogynistic era in Hollywood history. As the instantly tiresome heroine, Adams spends most of the picture enduring a series of slapstick humiliations that probably would’ve been deemed too tacky for Lindsay Lohan’s “Just My Luck.” Her alleged love interest basically just stands there, as his arrogant detachment dissolves into a lot of hemming and hawing, until he finally decides that he’s fallen for her. How romantic.

HollywoodChicago.com Blu-Ray Rating: 1.0/5.0
Blu-Ray Rating: 1.0/5.0

Adams is Anna, a high-maintenance apartment stager who decides to partake in the ancient Irish tradition in which women propose to their boyfriends on Leap Day. This requires her to fly to Dublin, where her boyfriend is on a business trip, but a karma-storm of contrivances lead her to get stranded at an Irish Inn owned by a man with the trashy-romance-novel name of Declan (played by an exceedingly weary Matthew Goode). Despite the fact that he can’t stand her, Declan improbably offers to drive Anna to Dublin, yet their trip is elongated due to a karma-storm of…you get my drift. This leads to the inevitable moment, recently recycled in “The Proposal,” where the two enemies, posing as a couple, are forced to lock lips and discover that—Janey Mack!—they really do have feelings for each other! See that one comin’, I did!

Matthew Goode and Amy Adams unwisely star in Anand Tucker’s dreadful Leap Year.
Matthew Goode and Amy Adams unwisely star in Anand Tucker’s dreadful Leap Year.
Photo credit: Universal Home Entertainment

When I first saw this film’s poster, I thought it might be the American remake of “Once,” the wonderful Irish romance that featured a couple who looks nearly identical to the one here (a skinny bearded guy with a short redhead). Unfortunately, the similarities stop there. Instead of making beautiful music together, Anna and Declan just bicker a lot, delivering dialogue that occasionally sounds as if it were written by five-year-olds. At one point, Declan calls the Leap Day tradition, “a load of poo.” Anna’s response: “It’s not a load of poo! It’s romantic. It’s really, really romantic!” Such lame banter has sadly become the trademark of screenwriters Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont, whose greatest achievement remains, “A Very Brady Sequel.” And since director Anand Tucker made this slop on the heels of his terrific final installment of the “Red Riding” trilogy, I kept waiting for the Yorkshire Ripper to show up and bump off the two leads. They’re so incompatible that by the time Anna has the choice between either saying yes to his marriage proposal or hurling herself off a cliff, I found myself rooting for the cliff.

Leap Year was released on Blu-Ray and DVD on May 4th, 2010.
Leap Year was released on Blu-Ray and DVD on May 4th, 2010.
Photo credit: Universal Home Entertainment

“Leap Year” is presented in 1080p High Definition (with a 2.40:1 aspect ratio), and is accompanied by English, Spanish and French audio tracks. The BD-Live-enabled disc includes a pocket BLU app for iPhone, Blackberry, etc., a social BLU app that connects to online social networks, but thankfully no digital copy (one copy of “Leap Year” is more than enough). Conspicuously lacking from the disc is the usual array of chipper making-of featurettes where the stars discuss how great of a time they had making the film. The lone extra is nearly seven minutes of dull deleted scenes, many of which provide more screen time for the criminally underused John Lithgow as Anna’s failed father figure. His line, “So, you leap yeared him, eh?” is certainly not destined to catch on with the general public, unless it’s used as terminology for dragging your boyfriend to a godawful date movie.

The laziness of the writing is even apparent in the cut footage; in one shot, Adams says, “I’m not going to Dublin.” In the very next shot, she’s on her way to the airport, as Lithgow exclaims, “Dublin!” The only feature on this disc that succeeded in making me laugh was the DVS (Descriptive Video Service) track, in which a dutiful yet rushed narrator described inane scenes with such priceless lines as, “Anna lifts her designer heel out of the cow pie,” and “Declan stares forlornly at the foamy head on his stout.” It proves that “Leap Year” is a film best viewed when blind.

‘Leap Year’ is released by Universal Home Entertainment and stars Amy Adams, Matthew Goode, Adam Scott and John Lithgow. It was written by Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont and directed by Anand Tucker. It was released on May 4th, 2010. It is rated PG.

HollywoodChicago.com staff writer Matt Fagerholm

By MATT FAGERHOLM
Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
matt@hollywoodchicago.com

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