Movie Reviews by Michael Phillips

The Five-Year Engagement Movie Review & Trailer

A lot of terrible romantic comedies come along, and after five or six you begin to question your belief in anything -- romance, comedy, movies, even terribleness itself. Before you know it, you're trying to break the fever and hit bottom, deliberately, with repeated viewings of films co-starring either Katherine Heigl or Gerard Butler or, worse, their near-lethal joint effort, the Yugo of rom-coms: "The Ugly Truth."

So. When something as sharp and funny as "The Five-Year Engagement" comes along, it means something.

I really like this film, loose flaps, protracted finale and all. Like "Bridesmaids," an authentic, dimensional human element animates the jokes and the characters with whom we spend a couple of highly satisfying hours watching "The Five-Year Engagement."

Jason Segel, lately muppeting around in "The Muppets," co-wrote the script with director Nicholas Stoller, his "Muppets" partner, who also directed Segel in "Forgetting Sarah Marshall." The movie begins where others typically wrap it up. San Francisco chef Tom Solomon (Segel) proposes to Violet Barnes, played by the fabulous Emily Blunt. She's angling on doctoral studies in social psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. But when the call comes, it's from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

Plans are adjusted. Tom gives up his shot at running the kitchen in a fancy new Bay Area bistro to relocate, with Violet, to Ann Arbor, where after a deceptively quick job-hunting sequence he finds work at the finest deli between the coasts, Zingerman's, which is a real place (and what a place!) and a presence as crucial as any in the formidable "Five-Year Engagement" ensemble.

Tom and Violet hear their wedding bells, but fate and their own doubts conspire to keep them off in the distance. While they postpone their marriage for one reason, and then another, Tom's best friend and fellow chef Alex (Chris Pratt) hooks up with Violet's sister, Suzie (Alison Brie). Theirs seems like a haphazard coupling with no future, but before long they have a child on the way, leaving Tom and Violet in the dust, Facebook update-wise.

"This is your wedding!" Suzie tells Violet before the first postponement. "You only get a few of those!" The punch line's clever, but it's not delivered for an imaginary laugh track. Stoller's film proceeds with a blithe confidence. In outline form, "The Five-Year Engagement" goes by the numbers. The script creates useful supporting cliques for both major characters. Violet's psych-study group, led by her subtly wolfish professor (Rhys Ifans), is a prime group of eccentrics, including Mindy Kaling as a researcher of considerable undermining skills. Tom falls in with the Zingerman's pickle expert (Brian Posehn) and improbably discovers deer hunting with another "faculty husband," a mild-mannered fellow played by Chris Parnell.

Shooting in San Francisco and Ann Arbor, cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe (who's worked with Pedro Almodovar) lends "The Five-Year Engagement" a lovely sheen, far easier on the eye than any previous Judd Apatow-produced comedy. The narrative formulas aren't exactly new; they wouldn't be formulas if they were. But one scene in particular seals our investment in the story. It's a late-night argument, following a dicey encounter between Violet and her mentor, and the way Blunt and Segel build the scene, it feels utterly true (without sacrificing the funny). Segel and Blunt are enormously likable people on screen, armed with wide-eyed charm and stealthy timing. When the relationship at the movie's heart threatens to erode from within, you feel for both halves equally. And by the end, you realize how seldom this happens in this most devalued of genres.

The Five-Year Engagement - 3.5 Stars

MPAA rating: R (for sexual content and language throughout).

Running time: 2:04.

Cast: Jason Segal (Tom); Emily Blunt (Violet); Chris Pratt (Alex); Alison Brie (Suzie); Brian Posehn (Tarquin).

Credits: Directed by Nicholas Stoller; written by Stoller and Jason Segel; produced by Judd Apatow, Stoller and Rodney Rothman. A Universal Pictures release.

The Five-Year Engagement Movie Trailer

 

About "The Five-Year Engagement"

"The Five-Year Engagement" is a 2012 American romantic comedy film written, directed, and produced by Nicholas Stoller. Produced with Judd Apatow and Rodney Rothman, it is co-written by Jason Segel, who also stars in the film with Emily Blunt as a couple whose relationship becomes strained when their engagement is continually extended.

In San Francisco, Tom, a sous-chef, and Violet, a PhD graduate, are happily engaged. Their wedding plans are interrupted when Tom's best friend Alex gets Violet's sister Suzie pregnant at Tom and Violet's engagement party, and Alex and Suzie quickly marry. When Violet is accepted into the University of Michigan's two-year post-doctorate psychology program, Tom agrees to move with her and delay their wedding, but is disheartened to learn his boss planned to make him a head chef.

Unable to find a suitable chef's position in Michigan, Tom is resigned to working at Zingerman's and takes up hunting with Bill, a fellow University faculty spouse. Violet settles into her new job under professor Winton Childs, working with Doug, Ming, and Vaneetha. A prank results in Violet being chosen to lead the team's research project, studying people choosing to eat stale donuts. Tom and Violet's nuptials are further delayed when Winton receives NIH funding with Violet's help and extends her program a few more years. Tom is upset by the news, and he and Violet fight over his unhappiness with their new lives.

As years pass, Tom becomes disillusioned and obsessed with hunting. Alex, Suzie, and their daughter Vanessa visit, and reveal Suzie is pregnant again. Tom responds that he no longer wants to have a child, surprising Violet, who offers to look after Vanessa with Tom, but the night turns into a disaster after Vanessa shoots Violet with Tom's crossbow. Tom's downward spiral becomes evident when Violet sees him eat a stale donut. At a bar with colleagues, a drunken Violet and Winton kiss, which Violet instantly regrets. She tells Tom that she wants to plan their wedding immediately, and he happily agrees. When Violet confesses to kissing Winton, Tom loses faith in their relationship, which reaches a climax when Winton comes to their rehearsal dinner to apologize. Tom chases Winton away, and leaves to get drunk alone. He runs into Margaret, an amorous co-worker, but opts not to have sex with her, and wakes up half-naked in the snow with a frostbitten toe, which is amputated. Violet visits Tom at the hospital, and they call off their engagement once they arrive home.

Violet starts a relationship with Winton but often reminisces about Tom, who wishes her a happy birthday via email, including a video of Ming's ridiculous experiment on his friend Tarquin. Violet calls Tom, who has returned to San Francisco, working as a sous-chef under Alex and dating the hostess, Audrey. Their friendly-but-awkward conversation takes a turn as they argue over Violet's stale donuts experiment as a metaphor for their relationship, and both end the call upset. Realizing Tom's unhappiness, Alex fires him, telling him that he is the better chef and should open his own franchise, and Tom launches a popular taco truck.

Violet receives an assistant professorship, but learns she was hired because she is dating Winton, and breaks up with him. After lunch with his parents, Tom decides to win Violet back, and breaks up with Audrey. He surprises Violet at her grandparent's funeral in England, and they agree to spend the remainder of the summer together in San Francisco, rekindling their relationship while sharing an apartment and working side by side in the taco truck.

Driving Violet to the airport, Tom offers to take his truck to Michigan and continue their relationship. Violet proposes to Tom at the side of the road, just as he did five years before, and Tom reveals the ring he originally gave her, explaining that he was planning to re-propose at the airport. They head to Alamo Square Park where Violet has organized their family and friends for an impromptu wedding. Tom chooses between Violet's various options for the officiant, clothing, and music, and they finally marry. Tom and Violet share their first kiss as a married couple, and the film flashes back to their first kiss when they first met at a New Year's Eve party. The film ends as Alex and Suzie sing “Cucurrucucú paloma” on a carriage ride with the newly-wedded couple.

"The Five-Year Engagement" Movie Review - "The Five-Year Engagement" stars Jason Segal & Emily Blunt

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