I Give It a Year Reviews

I wasn't really sure what to expect from this movie but since there was a decent cast involved, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, to be honest, I was surprised by how much I didn't care about the damned thing. I mean, the cast was indeed interesting and they definitely had some nice material to deliver a romantic-comedy about a realistic couple and, yet, it just didn't work. First of all, most of the jokes were mostly cringe-inducing and not funny whatsoever and that pretty much killed the whole thing for me. On top of that, even though it might have been actually quite realistic, I was rather annoyed to see how this couple was struggling after being married for such a short period of time. Unfortunately, it was pretty much representative on how people deal with their relationship nowadays, I'm afraid. Indeed, a long lasting romantic relationship represents a lot of hard f*cking work and an endless set of compromises, frustrations and deceptions and people nowadays don't want to be bothered anymore so they just bail because they believe that their own happiness should always be their main focus. So, was it really the right material for a romantic-comedy? I still think so because it was dealing with something real but the level of the humor was just way too shallow for me. Anyway, even though I have seen worse, I didn't really like this movie and I don't think it is really worth a look.  

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

A newlywed couple, played by Rose Byrne and Rafe Spall, are told that if they can make it through the first year of marriage, they'll be set. Nine months down the line, the hardships of marriage are starting to take their toll, and they're both cheating on each other.
Now, because this is from the co-writer of Borat, I'm surprised I didn't go in expecting to hate it: I had heard it was good. But, during the opening scenes, the Borat similarities definitely showed, and my heart sank. A lot of the humour is derived from being straight-up crass, especially with sex jokes. But, to my surprise, the movie as a whole wasn't painfully unfunny, like I'd expected: for most of it, I was just sitting there indifferent.
But now let's talk about the film's message. Through most of it, I was thinking the moral was for married couples to embrace each other's imperfections, not hold them against them. But (spoilers here, sorry) the ending completely reverses this by turning it into an admittedly hilarious joke where they're as joyful about the idea of a divorce as they should have been about the marriage. Some might say that this shamefully promotes infidelity, but I don't think that's meant to be taken as a serious moral: it's all just part of the writer's twisted sense of humour.
But overall, it's not very funny or emotionally satisfying. So I'd just sum up this one with, "Meh."

My rating: 50%

"There's just something in our marriage that hasn't quite...clicked"

In the grand pantheon of trashy, lazy romantic comedies, 2013's I Give It a Year is not bad. By no means is it great or even overly memorable, but neither is it terrible. Written and directed by Borat and Bruno scribe Dan Mazer, this is a rom-com that benefits from clever plotting and a great cast, though it never quite manages to attain brilliance due to leaden pacing and lack of heart, not to mention the humour often lacks bite. I Give It a Year actually comes from the studio mills of Working Title, who were responsible for Four Weddings and a Funeral and Bridget Jones' Diary, among others. It's a far cry from its cinematic cousins, but I Give It a Year is nevertheless worth seeing if there's nothing better to watch.

Striking up a whirlwind romance, Nat (Rose Byrne) and Josh (Rafe Spall) end up getting married even though their respective families and friends believe the pair to be completely unsuitable for one another. Fast-forward nine months, and the formerly happy couple are in marriage counselling with an embittered councillor (Olivia Colman). In flashback, we see key events which led to their marriage crumbling, as Nat and Josh quickly realise they have different interests. At work, Nat also meets charismatic, rich American industrialist Guy (Simon Baker), and pretends to be single in his presence. Meanwhile, Josh's cute former flame Chloe (Anna Faris) re-enters his life and may still have feelings for him, further complicating matters.

To his credit, Mazer's narrative is not as clear-cut and predictable as a typical American rom-com, as the ending is welcomely unconventional. You see, whereas a regular rom-com is out to convey the message that marriage can always work and opposites attract, Nat and Josh simply do not work as a couple, and the message here is that opposites pull apart. It's a superbly refreshing angle for a rom-com to adopt, but Mazer nevertheless falls victim to various other conventions of the genre: a crude male best friend (here played by Stephen Merchant), the typical make-up scenarios, and so on. To his credit, however, Mazer does have fun with the time-honoured cliché of a last-minute dash to the train station, subverting the stereotypical scene in a clever fashion.

The problem with the whole enterprise is its distinct lack of quality belly-laughs. Unfortunately, all of the best jokes were in the trailer; the rest of the movie is middle-of-the-road, with a few guffaws here and there but nothing spectacular or memorable. Hell, some of the funniest parts of the trailer were even excised for the final cut. Mazer cut his teeth writing for Sacha Baron Cohen vehicles, hence it's disappointing that the film isn't funnier. This is not to say that I Give It a Year doesn't have its charms, though - isolated scenes and moments do shine, including all of Merchant's scenes, a hysterical moment in which Colman shrieks at her husband through the phone, and various other bits and pieces. Problem is, there's not enough of an emotional through line, and it's difficult to truly care about the characters and get invested in their situation. The film's poster invites comparisons to Four Weddings and a Funeral since the films share common producers, but I Give It a Year pales in comparison to Richard Curtis' early '90s classic, which was witty, heartfelt and had great characters.

As for the actors, Spall and Byrne are average at best. Both of them are pleasant enough, but they lack the type of spark which characterises all the best rom-com performers. The supporting cast are the ones who steal the show here, with the aforementioned Merchant superbly playing Josh's inappropriate, socially inept best friend, and with Colman who's riotously funny as the unhinged marriage councillor. Faris, who's visibly starting to age, is a good fit for Chloe, soft-spoken and meek. Rounding out the main players is Minnie Driver, and Australian actor Simon Baker, both of whom are serviceable.

Ironically, for all its attempts to subvert the romantic comedy subgenre, I Give It a Year ends up being just as ordinary and forgettable as every other average genre exercise. It's a shame, as well, because the movie could've been something extraordinary if it carried the same weight, power and poignancy of something like (500) Days of Summer, which similarly uprooted rom-com clichés in an effective fashion. Instead, I Give It a Year is watchable and has its charms, but it had the potential to be superior.

6.2/10