leap over this one

ouch. this one was pretty bad. i try not to grade a movie before it's over but leap year graded itself within the first 20 minutes. i never had any expectations for the film (it's a cut and dry click flick, after all) but not only was the script pretty dismal but the things that usually make a chick flick bearable for me were also pretty rough. these things being the soundtrack/score, the cinematography and the likability of the characters. roll up your sleeves... this one's gonna get messy...

the script. oh god the script. nothing about it was interesting, funny or smart. i swear the only thing i heard coming out of amy adams' mouth was the noise of the teacher from charlie brown. waw waw waw waw waw. you know that cringy feeling you get when you hear a bad pun or corny pick up line? yea... that was the feeling i had for the entire 90+ minutes of dialogue. there were even parts where i swear there was a thought bubble above the actors' heads that read "really? really?! i can't believe i'm actually saying this." it was that bad, people.

the soundtrack was beyond forgettable. it didn't even register in my mind. i honestly can't tell you the name of any song that played during the film, which is alarming since chick flicks are usually packed full of predictable pop songs of the moment. the score was just as bad. i may be slightly bias since i'm not a fan of irish folk/pop music to begin with but it seemed juvenile and almost mocking at times. i don't even care enough to look up who was in charge of the music.

the cinematography and over all plot of the movie was jerky, disjointed, forced and amateurish. there were at least 3 fade to black scenes and at least 5 slowly fade out and then into the next scenes... you know where the heroines' face is superimposed over the picturesque landscape or her forlorn lovers' face? yea that's a no-no in my book.


finally the characters... the glue that holds chick flicks together. watery at best here. i wanted to punch amy adams [character] in the face so many times. i couldn't find myself to give two shits about who she ended up with or what misfortunes befell her. her longtime boyfriend seemed fine until the unsurprising end. even matthew goodes' character was one dimensional. there was not a drop of chemistry found between any of the actors and all lines were delivered as if the recipient was a brick wall. this was an "i need the money to pay my bills" movie if i've ever seen one.

leap year :: d