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Leap Year

6/10

Stars: Amy Adams, Matthew Goode, Adam Scott, John Lithgow, Noel O'Donovan, Pat Laffan

Director: Anand Tucker

Preposterous in its developments, but kept alive by the charm and chemistry of its stars, this is a very Oirish romcom featuring the winning personality of button-cute Adams as a New York 'apartment arranger' who's been partnered for the last four years with a smoothie cardiologist (Scott). Expecting her boyfriend to propose one evening, she gets earrings instead.

When he flies off to Ireland on a business trip, she follows him after hearing about the 'local' tradition of girls proposing to their fellas on February 29 of each leap year (guess this must be 2008 then). Diverted via Cardiff (really?) by bad weather, she ends up on a boat and gets washed ashore in a village where the local landlord (Goode), though alienated by her uppity ways, decides to ignore her (improbable) wrecking of her room and drive her to Dublin for 500 euros.

After his car ends up in a stream (so he'd left the handbrake off?), they decide to do the trip by train - but there's a two-and-a-half-hour wait. Deciding to visit the castle ruins on the nearby hill - half an hour there and back, tops - they return (she falls in the mud) to find the train is leaving!!

Things get no more likely, but Goode's Irish accent is passable and his manly charm palpable, whil Adams remains appealing in spite of the obvious direction this rose-coloured plot is taking us.

David Quinlan

Ireland/USA 2009. UK Distributor: Optimum. Technicolor.
98 minutes. Widescreen. UK certificate: PG.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 0, Violence/Horror 0, Drugs 0, Swearing 0.

Review date: 20 Feb 2010