The Five Year Engagement

The last time Nicholas Stoller and Jason Segel wrote together the end result was the enjoyable Muppets movie from the turn of the year. However, any originality that made that a surprising bit of fun is missing here as they churn out a by the numbers romance that will eventually just find itself on the pile of forgettable rom-coms from the last few years. That’s not to say the target audience probably won’t enjoy this, but I’d guess even for them this is a one viewing situation only. Starting off in San Francisco, Tom (Segel) proposes to his girlfriend Violet (Emily Blunt), but when she gets the chance to study a post-doctorate in psychology in Michigan, they decide to postpone their wedding and both to make the move east. Tom has trouble finding work though and before long the strains of a relationship are beginning to take their toll. Segel plays Tom with his usual goofy charm and there is some believable chemistry between himself and Blunt. Rhys Ifans provides good support as well as Violet’s slimy professor and his scene where he escapes an enraged Tom with some fleet of foot provides one of the best laughs of the film. On the downside, people who think that psychology is a load of balls will probably be gnawing their knuckles at the script (though it does poke a bit of fun at said discipline), especially when one of the main plot points resolves around who would eat a stale doughnut. Stoller did some decent work behind the camera on Forgetting Sarah Marshall (and, less memorably, Get Him To The Greek) but here it’s, well, as stale as one of those aforementioned doughnuts. It’s all pretty predictable and it also includes the eye-rollingly annoying group of diverse friends / work colleagues / students that only ever exists in US sitcoms or films. What saves it from being a complete flop though is that this has a slightly dark edge to it on the emotional side and it’s well acted by the three main leads. Basically this is just like Going The Distance (but, er, without the distance), with a different cast and crew. Therefore, if you liked that film, you’ll probably like this and vice versa.

The OC Film Sting Final Verdict

Not bad, but even if you never see this film, you’ve already seen it. Rating: 6/10.