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The Five-Year Engagement (2012)
Emily Blunt, Jason Segel, Rhys Ifans, Mindy Kaling
I do love me some Emily Blunt. Pairing her with Jason Segel seems like a can’t-lose proposition, and for the most part it’s an effective match-up. Blunt is Violet, a post-doctoral psychologist, and Segel is Tom, a sous chef in a nice San Francisco restaurant. The film begins with their becoming engaged, a year after their meeting. Their wedding is delayed when Violet’s sister needs to get married first, and delayed another two years when Violet is accepted into a program at the University of Michigan where she studies people’s inability to delay gratification even when promised something better very soon. Yeah, it’s not a very subtle metaphor.
Tom is agreeable all the way, taking a fry-cook job in a small diner that doesn’t challenge him as a chef, and trying to carve out some kind of life in this place he never intended to find himself. Violet has colleagues and a purpose, but Tom’s adjustment is much more of a strain.
When the marriage is delayed another two years so Violet can assist her mentor with a research grant, Tom goes off the deep end, and the relationship is tested beyond reasonable expectation.
It’s mostly a romantic comedy, and as in all romantic comedies there is a valley, a low point in the relationship which the couple must climb out of so it can get to the happily-ever-after part. The trouble with the valley in The Five-Year Engagement is that it’s very believably written, very believably acted, and very emotionally effective. And just as frequently happens in real life, the first bounce-back doesn’t stick. This section of the film is so well done that as a viewer, I wasn’t quite ready for the resolution. Sure, I was happy for the couple, but Tom and Violet had months to sort through their feelings, not to mention physical distance and emotional space. I only had half an hour in a dark theater, and that wasn’t enough healing for me, not even with assistance of a box of Junior Mints.
Supporting characters are interesting, especially Violet’s sister and brother-in-law, who play a shallower, cruder, less-smart foil for our happy couple, quick to meet and get married, impossibly made happy by the silliest shared moments, and unencumbered by professional goals or the ability to delay any kind of gratification. Violet’s colleagues at Michigan are also fun, if slightly cartoony, particularly Mindy Kaling who is always good in these roles. Rhys Ifans as Violet’s mentor is annoyingly cliche, complete with accent and intellectual aloofness. It disappoints me that this part couldn’t have been written with the same kind of believability as most of the rest of this film.
Violet and Tom are smart, likable, and funny, so it is good to see them get to happily-ever-after. It’s just kind of a rough ride, and the usual feel-good conclusion doesn’t feel good enough to me, a testimony to how realistic many of the plot elements are. It’s as if by being a little more real than your standard romantic comedy, the movie throws off the formula just enough to make it feel not quite as good. This should make it a better film, but I’m not sure it does. I think I need to see it again.
7/10 (IMDb rating)
73/100 (Criticker rating)
Emily Blunt, Jason Segel, Rhys Ifans, Mindy Kaling
I do love me some Emily Blunt. Pairing her with Jason Segel seems like a can’t-lose proposition, and for the most part it’s an effective match-up. Blunt is Violet, a post-doctoral psychologist, and Segel is Tom, a sous chef in a nice San Francisco restaurant. The film begins with their becoming engaged, a year after their meeting. Their wedding is delayed when Violet’s sister needs to get married first, and delayed another two years when Violet is accepted into a program at the University of Michigan where she studies people’s inability to delay gratification even when promised something better very soon. Yeah, it’s not a very subtle metaphor.
Tom is agreeable all the way, taking a fry-cook job in a small diner that doesn’t challenge him as a chef, and trying to carve out some kind of life in this place he never intended to find himself. Violet has colleagues and a purpose, but Tom’s adjustment is much more of a strain.
When the marriage is delayed another two years so Violet can assist her mentor with a research grant, Tom goes off the deep end, and the relationship is tested beyond reasonable expectation.
It’s mostly a romantic comedy, and as in all romantic comedies there is a valley, a low point in the relationship which the couple must climb out of so it can get to the happily-ever-after part. The trouble with the valley in The Five-Year Engagement is that it’s very believably written, very believably acted, and very emotionally effective. And just as frequently happens in real life, the first bounce-back doesn’t stick. This section of the film is so well done that as a viewer, I wasn’t quite ready for the resolution. Sure, I was happy for the couple, but Tom and Violet had months to sort through their feelings, not to mention physical distance and emotional space. I only had half an hour in a dark theater, and that wasn’t enough healing for me, not even with assistance of a box of Junior Mints.
Supporting characters are interesting, especially Violet’s sister and brother-in-law, who play a shallower, cruder, less-smart foil for our happy couple, quick to meet and get married, impossibly made happy by the silliest shared moments, and unencumbered by professional goals or the ability to delay any kind of gratification. Violet’s colleagues at Michigan are also fun, if slightly cartoony, particularly Mindy Kaling who is always good in these roles. Rhys Ifans as Violet’s mentor is annoyingly cliche, complete with accent and intellectual aloofness. It disappoints me that this part couldn’t have been written with the same kind of believability as most of the rest of this film.
Violet and Tom are smart, likable, and funny, so it is good to see them get to happily-ever-after. It’s just kind of a rough ride, and the usual feel-good conclusion doesn’t feel good enough to me, a testimony to how realistic many of the plot elements are. It’s as if by being a little more real than your standard romantic comedy, the movie throws off the formula just enough to make it feel not quite as good. This should make it a better film, but I’m not sure it does. I think I need to see it again.
7/10 (IMDb rating)
73/100 (Criticker rating)
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