LEAP YEAR

LEAP YEAR

The obligatory middle of the road romantic comedy... every actress believes they must be in one. Why not Amy Adams?

Fresh from her turn in "Julie and Julia", Adams lowers her standards and takes a shot in a generic romantic comedy "Leap Year".

You already know how it will end before it begins, the only question being how will it get there.

Let me interject this statement: If I every get my hands on a few million to produce and/or direct a romantic comedey, I promise to throw in a twist or two. Perhaps the girl will slaughter her significant other and and everyone around her! That would be different.

Needless to say, "Leap Year" need some help; it goes down a road traveled by at least a few dozen other films.

In a nutshell, Amy plays Anna, a success oriented gal from Boston who is involved with a cardiologist named Jeremy (Adam Scott). One day, a girlfriend of hers espies Jeremy making a purchase from a jewelry store and assumes it's an engagement ring. This was followed by a brief pep talk by Anna's loser father (John Lithgow) who tells her of an Irish Leap Day tradition of women proposing to men.

At first his suggestion falls on deaf ears, but when Jeremy's gift turns out to be ear rings, Anna decides to take matters into her own hands.

Jeremy has left to attend a medical conference in Dublin, when Anna decides to go thre and flip the script on him. After all, she is certain he is whom she wants for a husband.

Her plans are derailed when bad weather forces her flight to land in Wales instead of Dublin. Now she is forced to find a different way to Ireland.

She takes a ferry which only gets her into Ireland, but well short of Dublin. After walking a bit she comes across a pub owned by a nonchalant guy named Declan. Now we get to the obligatory "lets pick on the girl unfamiliar with our customs" routine.

Anna implores him to take her to Dublin which he at first rejects then agrees to once he realized he need the money to keep his pub.

Now begins the "everything that can go wrong will trip". Followed by the "I hate you but need you" part. Then the moronic "guy does something gallant" part. Followed by the... well you know the rest. In other words no new territory. You've seen it so much the gags aren't even funny any more.

The cast is as good as the script, which is to say not good and not bad. I'm sure somebody will bother to go see this thing, though suffice to say one would be better off seeing "It's Complicated" instead. "Leap Year" doesn't leap, it just stands there. --GEOFFREY BURTON

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