Sunday, May 13, 2012

The Five Year Engagement:  At Long Last Love!

My friend Carol and I went to see The Five Year Engagement this past Thursday evening.  Why?  Because I really wanted to see the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.  So how did we end up watching another movie?  It's simple really.  Marigold is in limited release.  The theatres in which it is playing are not accessible to my friend on a weeknight in Greater Boston.  It's the traffic.  There are some activities that we just don't do because of our health.  One of them is drive in rush hour traffic needlessly.  It's just not good for the blood pressure.  So, having agreed that we were both free to see a movie that evening, we chose another movie. 

The Five Year Engagement stars Jason Segel as Tom Solomon as a rising chef who meets Violet Barnes, played by Emily Blunt, a behavioral scientist student.  They live in San Francisco.  One year after they meet, Tom proposes to Violet.  Everyone is happy.  Then Violet is offered the opportunity to further her career in Michigan.  It's a two year commitment.  Tom willingly goes along with this, it's only two years, right? 

My impression was that the plot of this movie would have a series of setbacks for this couple along the lines of someone in a body cast for six months, someone would be exposed to a toxin and have to be quarantined for three months, someone would have to nurse a relative back to health out of state or in another country thus delaying the wedding,  or perhaps someone would get stranded in Indonesia and be unable to leave because there is no airstrip and the docks were destroyed.  At least, this is way I would have written it. 

But no.  Tom ends up a worker bee in a deli while Violet has her dream job.  Then she gets a promotion and her job is extended.  There are some interesting characters along the way.  There are funny moments.  It is a humorous film.  Just not what I expected.  I expected a bit more slapstick.  I don't want to have write spoiler alert so you will just have to trust me when I say there is a lot to this film.  It does touch on many different points in a relationship.  However, it is not a chick flick.  It is a comedy.  So, I give this one a C.





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