This is part of a series of No Shame Movie Reviews. For reasons I won’t speculate and rant about now, we have been told that only some movies are worth enjoying. Only artsy movies with a meaningful and/or ambiguous message, perhaps. To that, I say phooey. I say that you should be able to watch and enjoy any movie you want – from low-budget children’s movies to dramas about the hopelessly romantic. If you enjoy them, then why the heck should you not be able to watch them without shame?
This coming week, there’s going to be an extra day stuck in between February 28 and March 1. That’s right folks, it’s leap year. Once every four years, the world gets confused because we still can’t quite figure out how to get the calendar to make sense. Do you know what else that means? Of course, I’m reviewing the adorable, the romantic, the conveniently topical… Leap Year!
Leap Year stars Amy Adams as Anna, a woman who goes to Ireland, planning on proposing to her boyfriend (Adam Scott) on Leap Day. However, everything that can possibly go wrong ends up going wrong, sending Anna on a road trip with Declan (Matthew Goode) – a cynical Irishman who just can’t stand her.
Part of the reason I love this movie so much is probably because of the memories it brings back. Freshman year of high school (give or take), sitting on the floor of my best friend’s living room. We were having a sleepover, three of us, and we put on this movie. The first twenty minutes were spent laughing at how cheesy and predictable it was. But then we were swept up in it. We knew how it was going to end, but that didn’t stop us from shouting at the TV when the characters were making silly decisions.
We had a hundred nights like that, my friends and I, but for some reason this one stuck in my memory. And every time I watch it, I can’t help but remember all those other nights — movies watched, candy eaten, gossip shared until the sun came up. This movie, as silly and formulaic a romantic comedy as it is, captures that period of my life. And I smile every time I watch it, because I can’t help but remember all the (sleep deprived) fun that I had.
Yes. It’s cheesy. And no, the ending isn’t exactly unexpected. One of the main actors went on record as saying Leap Year was one of the worst movies of 2012. But what does that really matter? In the end, movies are about sweeping you up into their world. They’re about making you forget all of your ordinary, day-to-day problems and just go with it. And, at least for the kind of movies I like to watch, they’re about making you smile when you watch them and when you look back on them. And that’s really a wonderful thing for a movie to be able to do.
I’m sure you have those movies too. Or songs or foods or places. Something that everyone else just skips past, but that holds a special place in your heart. Something that brings back wonderful memories of your best friend, or your ex, or your mom, whomever. Something that just makes you smile, because wasn’t it great, that one time you (insert memory here).
For me, that movie is Leap Year. What’s yours?
Photos: imdb.com; Whedon.info; ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com