Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller follow up their recent hits Forgetting Sarah Marshall and The Muppets with The Five-Year Engagement, an often hilarious romantic comedy with a lot to say. Unfortunately, the film’s finer moments are muddled by pacing and tonal issues that make it an overly-long, messy film featuring shining moments.
Much like past Segel and Stoller collaborations, mainly Forgetting Sarah Marshall, the film incorporates a lot of very broad comedy that relies on the improvisational talents of its rather large cast to make the film work. With The Five-Year Engagement, it really feels as if Stoller and Segel have thrown the kitchen sink at this script, with a wide variety of comedic styles, characters and ideas stuffed into the overlong 124-minute film, hoping it will cohere properly.
The film opens with Tom Solomon (Jason Segel), a chef living in San Francisco, asking his girlfriend, Violet Barnes (Emily Blunt), to marry him on the one-year anniversary of their meeting: New Year’s Eve. Tom horribly botches his elaborate proposal plan, which involved the help of his chef buddy and overall goofball, Alex (Chris Pratt), but most importantly, it is clear Tom and Violet are very happy. Soon after their engagement, however, their lives are interrupted when Violet is accepted into the University of Michigan psychology doctoral program, thus sending the couple on the as-advertised wild, five-year journey to the altar.
In true Judd Apatow fashion (producer on the film), the noticeably long film suffers from not only its endless story ideas, narratives and subplots, but has an extremely large supporting cast of talented actors who both boost and hinder the film. Apart from the obvious stumbling points films hit with such large supporting casts, the various, often over-the-top personalities of each contribute to the disjointed nature of the film.
Apart from Pratt, others who impress comedically include Pratt’s opposite, Violet’s sister, Suzie (Alison Brie), who has some truly hilarious moments, particularly in the opening act. Several familiar faces during the very long, Michigan-based middle portion of the film include Rhys Ifans, as Winton, Violet’s psychology students, as well as Mindy Kaling, Kevin Hart, and Randall Park as fellow psychology students. Tom, meanwhile, befriends the very funny and strange Bill (Chris Parnell) and Tarquin (Brian Posehn). The list of supporting players just goes on and on, with several other familiar faces making appearances.
The humor throughout the film is pretty bizarre and unique, which is mostly welcome, particularly in the strong opening act. The film hits its low point upon arriving in Michigan, when the story becomes muddled and awfully sinister at times. Segel and Stoller make some strange choices in their attempts to present a fresh take on the genre while actually making some statements that really outweigh the film’s narrative. These just don’t fit the structure of the film, often distracting or simply not fitting the film whatsoever.
This overly-long, second act is quite jarring in how removed it is from the set-up. While there are still moments that work, Segel and Stoller’s attempts to fill in the gaps are really lacking. The ideas here are too broad for one film, particularly one using the premise which The Five-Year Engagement is built upon. There are too many unfulfilled, needless narrative developments that detract from the overall execution of the film.
Segel and Blunt are clearly talented and have a lot of chemistry to spare here, but where the film misuses them is creating reasons for the audience to dislike both Tom and Violet throughout the many developments over their relationship. The film goes in unexpected directions with their characters, which would normally be welcome in a genre so wounded by the cliche. What it comes down to here is many of these developments are needless, and above all, don’t fit the character or tone of the film.
Apart from the likable stars and several laugh-out-loud moments, there is a lot to appreciate here. Segel and Stoller are keen on presenting the audiences with an abundance of ideas and a lot to say on each theme The Five-Year Engagement presents. While not all of them work, and the overall narrative is quite messy, the filmmakers must, at the very least, be applauded for their effort to say something wholly different within the usual strict genre trappings of studio romantic comedies.
Grade: C+
Rated: R (for sexual content, and language throughout)
The Five-Year Engagement opens nationwide on April 27, 2012.
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