Walkaback

Leap Year (2010)

Rating ... D (14)

Has anyone been keeping count? By my tally the score stands at Nature: 12,401 - Civilization: 0. Amy Adams plays a yuppie furniture-pusher hellbent for Ireland so she can propose to her workaholic beau on February 29th for tradition's sake, but she's thwarted by a thunderstorm and diverted to Wales. She's in a time crunch because modern conveniences fail to get the job done (ultimately they're outed as soulless, unnecessary contraptions), but she gets her Important Lesson along the way. It's in the form of a nature travelogue - complete with sightseeing beautiful old castles and gleaning the lowdown on local folklore. She's a decorator who provides temporary furnishing to homes and apartments being sold - glamorizing modernness for the sake of sales, basically - but there's seemingly no limit to Leap Year's vitriol for contemporary lifestyle. How many shots of stiletto shoes sinking into mud, designer clothing being soiled, and high-tech devices failing do we need to get the message? She hooks up with a rugged, country man who's just ornery enough for us to doubt Ms. Adams would swap out her affluent doctor for the real deal. An hour later of course, we're hoodwinked; her old boyfriend is no longer mild-mannered and hesitant but materialistic and a hifalutin' socialite - easy justification for dumping his ass and hitching up with the guy who fits the agenda. The rationale? "I had everything I wanted, but nothing I really needed!" If you can still see the screen through the projectile vomit, cue ending shot of the rolling hills of Wales. Can all these back-to-nature movies please open with this song (1:34) for convenience's sake? I could use one good laugh during 90 minutes, thank you.


-