Saturday, May 05, 2012
In cinema news, I've been asked to contribute a column of my choice to the Daily Liberal's weekly publication Mailbox Shopper starting next week. I've chosen to make it about viewing all the films in bible 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, a quest I've been slowly progressing through over the last six or so years (I'm up to something around the 190 mark). So check in for some classic reviews here and there as I first discover some of Hollywood's treasures and beyond.
But to this week...
The Five-Year
Engagement (MA15+)
Marriage is a funny thing. As an important component of life,
it presents stature for some in society while others fear it because it suggestively
presents an end to freedom. Then there are those who just avoid it, happy in
their bubble and willing to postpone it for one reason or another. Moving to
Michigan is enough for the couple in the latest project from Nicholas Stoller
to become these avoiders, but while a move usually suggests a relationship’s
progress, in this case it becomes a major stumbling block.
Tom (Jason Segel) is happy as a souz chef in San Francisco
when he meets Violet (Emily Blunt) and proposes to her on their first
anniversary. But a move for Violet’s work as an emerging psychologist leaves
him without a professional job and both of them for a reason to delay the
wedding. As time is killed by living what is a Segel-esque warped existence, so
are Violet’s grandparents by old age one by one. It doesn’t help that her
sister Suzie (Alison Brie) managed a shotgun wedding to Tom’s best friend Alex
(Chris Pratt), pleasing the family enormously and setting high expectations.
Tom and Violet are written as two of the world’s biggest
procrastinators but there’s no real justification to accompany their actions.
It’s hard to imagine that people are really that unsure or unbothered about
marrying the love of their lives for that prolonged a period. Violet moves
along with the world, enjoying her work with a diverse group of colleagues but
Tom takes a step back and retreats to a life of new facial hair and hunting
deer.
The team that brought you The Muppets has presented a film that takes you to some weird
places as a plan to encourage some laughs. They get them, but only because the
incredulity of it all is managed well by Segel and Pratt. However, having a
psychologist at the centre of the story is underused; Segel and Stoller, as
co-writers, don’t appear to have grasped the potential of using that more
within the relationship.
Stoller’s third film as director is too long at 142 minutes,
many scenes drawn out unnecessarily. But what it doesn’t have in precision it
does in charm. Segel and Blunt work well as the strung-out couple while Pratt
plays the lovable idiot of a best friend. However, the most interesting are Violet’s
workmates Ming (Randall Park), Vaneetha (Mindy Kaling) and Doug (Kevin Hart),
equally cruising along with whatever comes their way but not afraid to share
what’s on their minds. Rhys Ifans and Jacki Weaver also add good contributions.
The film is a fun offering, but like the length of the
engagement it’s stretched out which doesn’t work in its favour. This should
still appeal to Segel and Blunt fans, whose abilities are not compromised.
Rating: 3/5*Published in the Daily Liberal (Dubbo), Western Advocate (Bathurst), Parkes Champion Post and Midstate Observer (Orange) from Saturday 5/5/2012
MISSED LAST WEEK'S REVIEW? See what I thought of The Avengers.
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*I have two photos entered in the current Qatar Reflections competition. Please show your support for me by voting for either photo! Short backstory and links here.
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