The Five-Year Engagement

The posters and trailers of The Five-Year Engagement were all over the place for a while early last year.  The trailers seemed intriguing enough and so did the posters.  But if my memory serves me right, 5 Year Engagement never saw the light of day in this country.  I have always wondered why.

About half an hour into the movie on Star Movies a few days back, I understood why.  The only thing I am yet to understand is why spend so much money on marketing something that really didn’t have much of a chance in India to begin with.  Unless of course it came in free.

 

Director Nicholas Stoller tries to tell us a story about Tom Solomon (Jason Segel of How I Met Your Mother) and Violet Barnes (Emily Blunt) who know each other since New Years eve where he was dressed as a bunny and she as Lady Diana.  Love was instant and sometime down the line Tom proposes marriage.  Violet accepts instantly.

 

However, that’s where it all starts going a bit awry.  It takes a while for formalities to be completed in terms of introducing families who stay across the Atlantic.  Violet is Brit.  And as the days go by, each one finds a reason to move the wedding to a later date.  Sometimes for very silly reasons.

 

When Violet gets her dream job offer at Minnesotta, Tom even gives up his prime job as a sous chef in a San Francisco restaurant to move with her.  Now the reason for pushing the wedding becomes settling down into a new place, finding a new job for Tom etc. etc. etc.  In short, before you know it, it is 5 years since these two love birds get engaged.

 

Nicholas Stoller and Jason Segel have written the screenplay and story.  To begin with, that’s where it gets a bit weird (for lack of any word).  The humour is vastly convoluted and not easy to understand.  There are long drawn dialogues that seem quite unnecessary like the debate on the pronunciation of name of the dog – Gwyrth.

 

There are some cute conversations as well like the one with Elmo and the Cookie Man.  However these instances are far and few between.  There are several moments where the concept seems seriously stretched out.  Even the audience will start feeling the pain of a 5 year delay.  Maybe that was the intent.  But it doesn’t work.

 

The performances are quite good.  Jason Segel as always is quirky and funy.  Emily Blunt can easily stake her claim for the most beautiful face on this side of the Atlantic and does a good job of what is expected of her.  I guess it is just the story that falls short somewhere.  Just about average overall.  5 on 10.

 

Watch the trailer on http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3616319001/?ref_=tt_ov_vi