Anna Brady (Amy Adams - Enchanted) is finally going to take the plunge with her long-time boyfriend Jeremy (Adam Scott - Step Brothers). There is an old Irish tradition that states a woman can ask a man to marry her on a leap year. She intends to use this tradition to propose to her man whilst he is on a medical conference in Dublin on February 29th. Sadly the elements are against her as weather grounds her flight miles away from her destination. She stumbles across an old tavern run by Declan (Matthew Goode - Watchmen); a young landlord who is having money worries. Anna manages to convince him to drive her to Dublin in a mad race to get to her beloved before Feb 29th. But Anna doesn’t count on some unforeseen matters of the heart getting in her way.
We are first introduced to Anna and her future husband. No effort whatsoever is made to make this character anything but a token obstacle. Soon she finds herself in Ireland and from that point on Irish stereotypes aplenty are thrown at us. Everyone in Ireland is supposed to be a superstitious drunk according to this film. Declan is a typically bullish young man who seems to take pity on Anna but we have no idea why. They hate each other and the viewer can’t help but side with Declan on this particular issue. Anna is painted as an annoying, superficial and quite frankly rude woman who you really don’t empathise with in the slightest. When all of the bad things happen to her you actually find yourself rooting for the assailants. So the prospect of Anna and Declan falling for one another feels fake right from the offset.
There are huge holes in the plot that defy any kind of logic. Why would Declan risk losing his entire livelihood just to drive a stranger across the country for next to no money. Especially when she has done her best to trash his pub/inn and shown no level of regret or common decency towards him? We are led to believe it’s because of love but there’s no evidence to suggest that either of them have any feelings for each other at that point so the whole premise is weak in the first instance. But we’ll take a deep breath, remember this is romantic fluff and try to move on.
Before you know it Anna and Declan find themselves without a mode of transport and stuck in transit. Anna’s constant moaning and nagging is supposed to come across as kooky and endearing but it fails miserably. Declan’s tolerance of this annoying woman is perhaps down to this famous Irish charm we keep getting reminded of (or shoved down our throats depending on which way you look at it).
When their heads eventually do turn to one another, the film does slightly pick up. You’ll just have to forget about the ridiculous circumstances that got us to this point. There is a hilarious segment involving Anna and Declan inadvertently gate crashing a wedding which contains some genuine and real emotions for once. The Irish landscape lends itself perfectly to a romance. There are brief glints of substance during the castle scene and when the couple walk through the country roads together swapping stories. If only the rest of the film could have followed suit, but sadly it’s too little too late.
Both Amy Adams and Matthew Goode are far too good to be in this film. A romantic comedy with these two in the lead should have guaranteed sparks but the story is so weak that the talents of both performers get quickly snuffed out by the shaky dialogue and the general underwriting of their characters.
Leap Year is full of ridiculous circumstance, even for a romantic comedy. At no point do you believe that they are head over heels in love with one another and for a movie in this genre, that’s a pretty basic mistake to make. This fault lies squarely with the script that insults its audience with terrible Irish stereotypes, corny dialogue and a distinct lack of tact. Leap Year is an afterthought of a movie that unfortunately not even Amy Adams or Matthew Goode can save despite their best efforts. They both deserve a lot better than this.
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