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Leap Year is a sweet little movie, although so by the books that it doesn't exactly distinguish itself
Leap Year may be the least funny Hollywood comedy to take advantage of Irish tax credits since The Honeymooners.
The most charming of actors can be left flailing in the face of a feeble script and direction.
What makes Leap Year so singularly dispiriting is precisely that it is bad without distinction â" so witless, charmless and unimaginative that it can be described as a movie only in a strictly technical sense.
If the premise seems lame, the actual script by Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont is far worse, leaning on so many clichéd situations it's a wonder 45 other screenwriters weren't credited.
There's not one surprising moment in the script, but Adams and Goode allow you to look past the familiar and develop a rooting interest in them as a couple.
The bright spot in this boggy botched mess is Amy Adams, a fine and always interesting actress who sparkles and shines here despite the stilted storyline, preposterous improbabilities and an artificially sweetened storybook ending.
...a familiar yet watchable piece of work...
...generic romantic comedy about a beautiful young woman (Amy Adams, experiencing a career low) who plans to land her commitment-shy boyfriend by flying to Ireland and surprising him by proposing on Feb. 29
Scribes Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont rely heavily on the dramatic Irish landscape - and it is dramatic - to make up for the lack of drama in their script.
Adams is cute as a button, as always, but even she can't energize this tired excuse for a comedy.
Rubbish. Irish eyes will be hard pressed to grimace, let alone smile.
While thereâ(TM)s some chemistry between the pair, itâ(TM)s not enough to compensate for their paper-thin characters, never mind all the crosseyed Guinness-swilling extras.
Everyone tries hard, but Leap Year shows talent cant redeem a truly uninspired script. For committed rom-com fans only.
The film is packed with spontaneous acts of Irish country dancing and twinkly locals beaming over their Guinness. Ireland should sue.
The only "leap" I felt like making was off a motorway gantry into the fast lane of the M25.
Adams and Goode are hampered by a witless script, which aims for It Happened One Night cross-country battle-of-the-sexes entertainment but misses the mark so completely.
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