The Five-Year Engagement (2012) Directed by Nicholas Stoller. Starring: Jason Segel, Emily Blunt, Chris Pratt & Alison Brie. IMDB says: ”A comedy that charts the ups and downs of an engaged couple’s relationship. “
Tom and Violet are a ridiculously cute couple brought to the screen by the always endearing Jason Segel and increasingly enjoyable Emily Blunt. They’re not just a pair you immediately root for (I’m talking first 10 minutes of the movie root for) but actual drawn out characters with well-rounded identities. Their engagement is filled with very normal issues and emotions you can buy for the most part based on a script that does its job working in great humor.
The script it also where the biggest complaint you’ll see about this movie is–it’s way too long and in desperate need of editing. Running over two hours, this film becomes flawed by all that it tries to include. The supporting cast is huge, and while I liked how realistic this film was in filling out the lives of Tom and Violet including their family, friends, and coworkers, it dragged the movie out a bit. Chris Pratt and Alison Brie have easily the best supporting roles, especially Brie as she stole most scenes she was in. The host of other supporting actors have their moments, but just have too much to do in this.
As the dynamics of Tom and Violet’s relationship changed over the five years some phases stuck better (see the well-done fifth year) than others (see the fourth year beard misstep). At times I wish things had been written a bit differently, but at the heart of the story Segel and Blunt kept me excited and invested in how things would turn out. They surprised me with their chemistry, and Blunt was better than I’ve ever seen her. The romantic moments were at times so tender, I got a little emotional (it might just be because they used Van Morrison’s “Sweet Thing” so effectively but I won’t discredit them).
The anticipation of another Jason Segel/Nicholas Stoller collaboration had me quite excited to see their latest effort and it didn’t disappoint. Maybe underwhelmed would be the better word. Even that isn’t really adequately putting it because it’s a very enjoyable film. Comparing it to Forgetting Sarah Marshall is really where any of my disappointment comes from. That film certainly would be close to my favorite comedy over the past 5 years–and this just doesn’t stack up. As far as romantic comedies go, this one is really excellent, fun, and crazy sweet but it isn’t necessarily be a film I can glow over.
The film is definitely a little too long for it’s own good, but what it does work with is showing an impressive cast that is able to bring laughs out of this material, no matter what the tone is. Good review Jess.
Thanks! It’s definitely a movie that’s hard to hate on, no matter what its fault. Especially the ending left it on such a great note that you leave the theater feeling pleased with whatever it is you just saw.
Nailed it, Jess. This one’s just way too long. Cut down by about twenty minutes– which wouldn’t be hard at all given the amount of fat on display here– and I think this would have played much better. As it is, it’s good but far too flabby for its own good. There’s too much space keeping the important thematic beats apart from one another; the film meanders too much.
But it does have Emily Blunt getting shot with a crossbow bolt, and it does have Alison Brie and Blunt arguing with one another using Elmo and Cookie Monster voices, so I think it justifies its existence ultimately. Blunt’s kind of amazing here.
I LOVED the Elmo/Cookie Monster scene. Those two played so well off of each other (Segel/Blunt did too). The worst part for me was the really over the top sort of mental-breakdown segment with Segel which played out much better in Forgetting Sarah Marshall.