|
Anna (Amy Adams) is torn between two lovers (Matthew Goode, left, and Adam Scott) in an Irish romance “Leap Year.” |
“Leap Year” is another one of those plot-by-number, formula romantic comedies that doesn’t trust a woman to choose between two lovers, so the movie does it for her.
You know what I’m talking about. A woman, torn between two men, can’t decide which one is right for her, even though everyone in the audience has known it all the way through the movie.
Just as she finally chooses a suitor, a timely discovery bounces him out of contention. He’s revealed to be a lout, a liar, a child molester, a con artist, a golddigger, insincere, shallow, materialistic, a clinging mama’s boy or something else that tips the scales to the other guy.
So, the poor woman, robbed of her first choice, must accept the runner-up, who’s the guy everyone in the audience picked for her in the first place.
Granted, this is SOP (standard operating plotting) for a Hollywood rom-com, but wouldn’t it be nice, just once in a while, if the woman could be trusted to make up her own mind, and not have the decision be dictated by an 11th-hour character revelation?
What “Leap Year” lacks in novelty and freshness, it almost makes up for in charm. Most of that emanates from the radiant Amy Adams, who plays Anna, a cultured New York woman. She “stages” apartments with furniture and knickknacks to win over potential renters or buyers. (Read more…)