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Leap Year (DVD)
Year: 2010
Rating: PG
Director: Anand Tucker
Cast: Amy Adams, Matthew Goode, John Lithgow, Adam Scott
Release Date: October 20, 2010
Distributor: Roadshow
The Film: 1.0
The Disc: 1.5
FILMINK rates DVDs and Blu-rays out of 5Despite two appealing lead actors, this shallow romantic comedy follows every cliche of the genre.
In Leap Year - a highly predictable romantic comedy - Amy Adams (Julia & Julia, Doubt) plays Anna, who is frustrated that her boyfriend Jeremy (Adam Scott) has still not proposed after four years. She follows him to Dublin to fulfil an Irish tradition that allows women to propose to men once every leap year. (God forbid a woman wants to propose on another day of the year!) Various transport and weather mishaps leave her stranded in Wales, forcing her to enlist hotel owner Declan (Matthew Goode - Watchmen, A Single Man) to help her reach Dublin. Predictably, love blossoms between the pair despite the fact they're polar opposites.
Despite Adams' acting skills and likeable onscreen presence, even she fails to elevate Anna above the clichéd romantic comedy heroine: desperate, naive and obsessed with marriage. Goode is refreshing as Declan, satisfying the viewer's need for someone to shake Anna from her bubble and providing the film's few comedic moments. John Lithgow, as Anna's father, injects the film with much needed energy.
As the plot progresses, Anna's wide-eyed feebleness grows more endearing but by this stage, the movie is almost over. The very foundation of the film - that a woman cannot propose to a man with dignity - is dated, worsened by the rehashed characters and banal plot line.
The DVD includes a number of deleted scenes, some of which would have helped to provide Anna's character with depth.
