THE FIVE YEAR ENGAGEMENT: in cinemas now- short review

The Five Year Engagement (2012)
Directed by: Nicholas Stoller
Written by: Jason Segel, Nicholas Stoller
Starring: Alison Brie, Chris Pratt, Emily Blunt, Jason Segel

Tom Solomon, a sous chef at a fancy restaurant, and Violet Barnes, a psychology PhD graduate, are a happy couple in San Francisco who met at a New Year’s Eve party and have been going out for a year.  On the way to another New Year’s Eve party, Tom’s plans for a romantic proposal go terribly wrong but the two get engaged anyway.  Their nuptials get interrupted when Tom’s best friend Alex Eilhauer gets Violet’s sister Suzie pregnant at Tom and Violet’s engagement party and the two marry before Tom and Violet. Their nuptials get further delayed when Violet gets accepted into the University of Michigan’s post-doctorate in psychology program which lasts two years. Tom agrees to move with her and delay their wedding until then……

You will probably wonder what a writer for Horror Cult Films is doing going to see a film like The Five Year Engagement, let alone reviewing it for the site.  Well, we try to be diverse and not concentrate entirely on horror/cult films, while at the moment I will go and see the gorgeous Emily Blunt in anything. The Five Year Engagement is quite odd; at heart it’s a serious examination of a declining relationship and a couple who think they are suited for each other but patently aren’t and are drifting further and further apart but are none too aware of it. Being from the Judd Apataw stable [which means we have an average-looking male with a beautiful female] though, it also throws the need to throw in much humour, with a lot of it on the crude side.  There are certainly some fine belly laughs, and even some bits of random surreality such as when one character suddenly becomes adept at parkour. Much of it feels unnecessary though, as if the writers didn’t have enough faith in the story, while the film finishes with an ending which seems to contradict everything it has been saying for the previous two hours.  You’re opinion on it will probably not be because you’re a cynic or a romantic; it’ll more likely be because it just feels terribly incongruous.  Feeling wildly overlong, it still passes the time, with good performances by all concerned [need I say that Blunt is divine?] and a nice line in fun supporting characters.  There’s a pretty good 90 min film in here……with a better ending.

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