Leap Year premiered in New York City on January 6, 2010, and was released theatrically on January 8, 2010, by Universal Pictures in the United States and on February 28 by Optimum Releasing in Ireland. The film received mostly negative reviews from critics, with many criticising the film’s pacing, plot and limited chemistry between Adams and Goode.
Plot
Boston real estate stager Anna Brady (Amy Adams) is frustrated that her boyfriend has still not proposed after four years, even though they are about to move into an upscale apartment together. She decides to travel to Dublin, where he is attending a cardiology conference.
A storm diverts her plane to Cardiff, Wales. Anna hires a boat to take her across the Irish Sea to Ireland, but due to the storm, she is put ashore at a small seaside village, Dingle. Anna offers to pay Declan O'Callaghan (Matthew Goode), who runs the local pub, to give her a ride to Dublin. At first he refuses, but as his pub is threatened with foreclosure, he agrees to drive her for €500. Along the way, she tells him she plans to invoke the Irish tradition, Bachelor's Day, which says a woman may propose to a man on February 29. Declan mocks the concept.
When cows block the road, Anna gets out of the car to shoo them away, and steps in a cow pat. She leans on the car while cleaning her shoes, causing it to roll downhill into a stream. They continue on foot, until a van with three travellers stops and offers a lift. Ignoring Declan's warning, Anna hands them her suitcase first. Before she can get into the van, they drive off without her. Anna and Declan continue walking to a roadside pub, where they find the travellers. Declan fights them and retrieves Anna's bag.
While waiting in the pub for a train, they ask each other what they would grab if their homes were on fire and they had only 60 seconds to leave. Absorbed in conversation, they miss the train, and have to stay the night at a bed & breakfast in Tipperary. They pretend to be married so their conservative hosts will let them share the room. During dinner, when the other couples kiss to show their love for each other, Anna and Declan feel obliged to kiss as well. This stirs feelings neither had expected. They sleep in the same bed, but do not admit their new feelings.
Next day, they continue hitchhiking, but a hailstorm forces them to shelter in a church, where a wedding is taking place. They are invited to the reception, where Anna gets drunk. She begins to question her relationship with Jeremy and realizes she has feelings for Declan. As they are about to kiss, she vomits and passes out.
They arrive in Dublin the following day. Declan reveals he was once engaged, but his fiancée ran off to Dublin with his best friend and his mother's claddagh ring. Anna suggests that while in Dublin, he should ask for the ring back. When they arrive at Jeremy's hotel, Jeremy surprises Anna by proposing to her in the lobby. Seeing that Declan has already left, she accepts Jeremy's proposal.
At their engagement party back in Boston, Anna discovers why Jeremy proposed; the co-op board of the apartment building were unlikely to approve their application if they were not married. Dismayed, she pulls the fire alarm and waits, testing the 60-second concept she and Declan discussed. Jeremy grabs all their electronic devices, leaving Anna to look after herself. She realizes there is nothing in the apartment that means anything to her, including Jeremy. Meanwhile, in Dublin, Declan retrieves his mother's claddagh ring from his ex-fiancée.
Anna returns to the pub in Dingle, where Declan has raised the money to pay his debt with the help of the community. She tells him she has broken off her engagement and proposes that they get together, and not make plans. Declan leaves.
Thinking she has been rejected, Anna rushes outside to the edge of a cliff overlooking the sea. Declan emerges, revealing that he went out to retrieve his mother's claddagh ring. Declan says he wants to make plans with her, and proposes. A short time later they drive away in Declan's car with a 'Just Married' sign and Anna tosses aside the map, leaving their destination open to fate.
On October 17, 2008, it was announced that Amy Adams was to star in the film as Anna Brady.[5] On November 23, Anand Tucker signed on to direct the film, with Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan collaborating on the screenplay.[6]
On February 12, 2009, it was announced that Matthew Goode would be playing the role of Declan O'Callaghan, the surly innkeeper.[7] On March 18, it was announced that Adam Scott was to play Jeremy Sloane, Anna's long time boyfriend,[8] and that Kaitlin Olson would play Libby, Anna's best friend.[9]
An audio CD soundtrack for Leap Year was released on the Varèse Sarabande record label on January 12, 2010. That album contains only the original score, composed and conducted by Randy Edelman. The musical selections that were used, and credited at the end of the film, are not available on the CD. Those include:
The film opened at the American box office at number 6, with a modest US$9,202,815, behind blockbusters Avatar, Sherlock Holmes, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, as well as Daybreakers and It's Complicated.[12] The film's final gross of US$25,918,920 in the United States against a production budget of US$19,000,000. In addition to this, the film made US$6,688,396 in international markets, for a final worldwide gross of US$32,607,316.[4]
Leap Year was released on DVD in the United States on May 4, 2010.[13] It debuted at number 4 on the American DVD rentals chart, with a first week rental index of 56.63.[14] It placed 5th on the DVD sales chart, selling an estimated 159,843 units, and has sold almost 800,000 units in total to April 2013.[15]
Reception
On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 24% and an average rating of 4.30/10, based on reviews from 144 critics. The site's critical consensus reads: "Amy Adams is as appealing as ever, but her charms aren't enough to keep Leap Year from succumbing to an overabundance of clichés and an unfunny script."[16] On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score out of 33 out of 100 based on 30 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[17] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade "B" on an A+ to F scale.[18][19]
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave it three out of four stars, and described Leap Year as a "full-bore, PG-rated, sweet rom-com". "It sticks to the track, makes all the scheduled stops, and bears us triumphantly to the station".[20]Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a B− grade, stating that the film could have used more "pizzazz".[21]
Nathan Rabin of The A.V. Club, gave it a grade of C− and concluded, "The film functions as the cinematic equivalent of a Shamrock Shake: sickeningly, artificially sweet, formulaic, and about as authentically Gaelic as an Irish Spring commercial".[22]A. O. Scott of The New York Times saw it as "so witless, charmless, and unimaginative, that it can be described as a movie only in a strictly technical sense".[23]Richard Roeper gave it a C−, stating that it had a "recycled plot, lame sight gags, Leprechaun-like stock Irish characters," adding that "the charms of Amy Adams rescue Leap Year from Truly Awful status".[24][failed verification]
Donald Clarke of The Irish Times gave the film one star out of five, and in a scathing review, described it as "offensive, reactionary, patronising filth" and cited it as evidence that "Hollywood is incapable of seeing the Irish as anything but IRA men or twinkly rural imbeciles".[25] Paul Whitington of the Irish Independent described the film as "grotesque and insulting paddywhackery" and said Goode "struggle[d] badly with his accent".[26]
The film's lead actor Matthew Goode admitted "I just know that there are a lot of people who will say it is the worst film of 2010," and revealed that the main reason he signed on to the film was so that he could work close to home and be able to see his girlfriend and newborn daughter.[27]
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