Leap Year

B-

Leap Year

Rated PG; Directed by Anand Tucker; Starring Amy Adams, Matthew Goode, Adam Scott, John Lithgow

I realized while watching the romantic-comedy Leap Year that I will never have the adventures that romantic-comedy heroines have. It seems that they are required to wear shoes inappropriate for most locations. This means high heels, and I don’t wear high heels. But it seems high heels make a woman a perfect protagonist as it offers so much comic potential. I am also supposed to bicker with a hunk of a man before I realize that he’s the one for me. Loathing before love is required in these movies.

Yes, Leap Year is predictable. Imagine the plot: a young career woman has a perfect life with a perfect boyfriend, but due to a string of ridiculous circumstances, finds herself bickering with some other good-looking man – the opposite of her dream man. And yes, love blooms in these circumstances. Happily, in Leap Year we do get something out of this movie: charming performances and a lot of lovely scenery of Ireland.

This kind of movie relies on the stars more than the plot. Amy Adams carries off the role of a woman trying to get to Dublin to propose to her boyfriend. She is well matched by Matthew Goode as the Irish fellow reluctantly helping her reach her destination. They play the romantic-comedy tropes quite well. Adams gives her control-freak character a soft touch, and as for Goode, okay, for him I’d start wearing high heels.

Leap Year is pleasant, but unsurprising. Luckily it has Amy Adams, Matthew Goode, and beautiful Ireland. It also proves that even if I wore high heels, I need the charms of Amy Adams to make me a proper romantic-comedy heroine.