Director: Arnand Tucker
Writers: Deborah Kaplan, Harry Elfont,
DVD and Blu-ray release date: July 12 2010
Studio: Optimum Home Entertainment
Number of discs: 1
Region: 2
Price: From £11.99
Running Time DVD/Blu-ray: 96/100 mins (DVD/Blu-ray)
Certificate: PG
Starring: Amy Adams, Matthew Goode, Adam Scott, John Lithgow

Arnand Tucker’s Leap Year takes the notion that all women are obsessed with marriage to an insulting extreme as the lead, Anna (Amy Adams), rushes to Dublin to propose, declaring: “I’m not going to die without getting engaged.”

Jack, her superstitious father, a disappointingly underused John Lithgow, has brought Anna up with the fifth century myth that it is a woman’s right in Ireland to propose on February 29th in a leap year. A false alarm at the jeweller’s raises her hopes but luckily for Anna, her smarmy cardiologist boyfriend, Jeremy (Adam Scott), is in Dublin as part of a conference.

The film follows control-freak Anna’s race across Ireland against all odds as weather, theft and transport conspire against her attempts to arrive in time to prepare for her proposal. Somewhat obsessed with organisation and meeting schedules, much to Anna’s reluctance, she discovers she needs Irish taxi-driver and pub owner, Declan’s (Matthew Goode) help more than she cares to admit.

After a series of catastrophic mishaps rough and ready Jeremy winds up escorting the clumsy Anna to the “city of chancers and cheats”, Dublin. Along the way, what begins as a hostile relationship of opposites, blooms into something unexpected and allows both characters to learn and grow through each other.

Cringe inducing Leap Year is rammed full of every Irish stereotype you can imagine from obsessions with superstition (“It’s bad luck to start a journey on a Saturday.”) to well meaning drunkards, leprechaun references, river dancing, tripe munching and characters churning out stock phrases (“To be sure”, “eejit”…).

Through the entire film arrogant real-estate fixer, Anna from Boston, totters around in ridiculous shoes more suited to Sex and the City than the Irish countryside but despite the unimaginative script’s cheesy lines, Adams pulls off her usual charm, resulting in convincing chemistry between Declan and Anna.

The only really successful gag in this romantic comedy is the well-worn misunderstanding between Declan and Anna over the naming of her legendary bag but despite all its faults Leap Year at least satisfies with the feel-good ending you expect, need and deserve.

**

Verdict: Declan asks: “If your house was on fire what would you take?”
Answer: Not this film, if I was foolish enough to even own it in the first place.

DVD Special Features:

  • Deleted scenes.

Blu-ray Special Features:

  • Deleted Scenes.
  • BD-Live: Access the BD-Live Center through your Internet-connected player to get even more content, watch the latest trailers and more.
  • My Scenes: Bookmark your favorite scenes from the movie then share with your BD-Live buddies.
  • Pocket BLU: USHE’s groundbreaking pocket BLU app uses iPhone, iPod touch, Blackberry, Android and other devices to work seamlessly with a network-connected Blu-ray player and offers advanced features.