Review of Leap Year (2010) by Reem A — 05 Dec 2010

This movie is predictable, as are all romantic comedies, but it has one thing going for it that I feel sets it apart from other movies in the same category: I actually really liked it.

I don't know why I liked it so much, given that it's about a woman who, in my opinion, is so desperate to be married, she goes to Ireland to propose to her unworthy boyfriend, who is there for a cardiology conference. I think I liked it because I actually liked Declan, played by Matthew Goode, a rough-around-the-edges Irishman who owns an Inn and takes crap from nobody.

Declan is a guy I personally would fall for, so it's easy to see how and why Anna, played by Amy Adams, would fall for him. That may sound like a shallow reason to like a movie, but really, it means a lot. Most of the time I feel like the male characters in romantic comedies aren't the greatest, because their only redeeming quality is how cute they are and the only real thing they go out of their way to do is to wine and dine the woman they're after...nothing special, anybody can do that. The character of Declan, however, does nothing but be himself throughout, never once being someone he isn't...and who wouldn't fall for that?