Review of I Give It a Year (2013) by Avishek C — 09 Feb 2013

I must admit I spent quite a bit of the second half of this self advertised anti-rom-com noting the irony of two Australian actors, Rose Byrne and Simon Baker playing respectively a Brit and an American and playing six degrees of Kevin Bacon seeing how quickly I could link them. (If you're interested, one link. Simon Baker's co-star in TV show The Guardian was Wendy Moniz, who appeared in Damages with Rosé Byrne as Patty Hewes' sons girlfriend.) I then started listing all the Aussies in Hollywood before debating whether to include Kiwis... As you can see I wasn't 100% engaged in the film...

Anyway back to the film and it is a pretty funny comedy about a couple, Byrne and Rafe Spall who get married, but quickly realise they aren't that well matched. Both have other more suitable suitors - Anna Faris is Spall's ex, Simon Baker an American client of Advertising exec Byrne clearly has his eye on her.

There is a great supporting cast, Olivia Coleman as a useless marriage counsellor with her own marital problems, Minnie Driver as Nat's cynical sister and Stephen Merchant as Spall's hilariously awful best pal.

Lots of funny set pieces too - and pretty rude! Unfortunately, the characters are just not engaging at all. You don't root for any of them at all or really care about them. It is also unbelievable that they ever got together in the first place!

Amusing but un-engaging.

(My Aussie/NZ actor list: Simon Baker, Rose Byrne, Naomi Watts, Russell Crowe, Nicole Kidman, Guy Pearce, Rachel Griffith, Melissa George, Hugh Jackman, Isla Fisher, Toni Colette, John Noble, jesse Spencer, Anna Torv, Anna Paquin, Lucy Lawless, Karl Urban... More out there I am sure!).