Leap Year

Yes, January is the time for movies with ridiculous premises that make you believe every studio exec in Hollywood is engaging in Amy Winehouse levels of drug use. Leap Year doesn't disappoint. It's a movie that makes you think you stepped back into 1950, which makes me wonder why anyone thought we would buy this premise in 2010.

Amy Adams stars as Anna - a stager who helps decorate and present homes and condos on the market in the best, most attractive way, which helps them sell faster. While she has been successful convincing homebuyers to take the leap, Anna has not had any luck getting her boyfriend of 4 years, Jeremy (Adam Scott), to take the leap into marriage. However, she has a plan only Lucy Ricardo would appreciate.

Anna's father (John Lithgow) reminds her of an Irish tradition where a woman can propose to a man on February 29 during a Leap Year. Since Adam will conveniently be in Ireland on Leap Day, Anna decides she will make the trip to Dublin, drop to one knee and ask for his hand in holy matrimony. However, it all goes awry, she ends up stranded in a small little country town, and our hero is forced into convincing a hunky bar owner, Declan (Matthew Goode), to drive her (to Dublin).

Do you think they might fall in love along the way?

Will Anna make it to Dublin by Leap Day?

If you want to see an Oscar caliber film, run out to see Up In The Air or Precious. Leap Year is one of those movies that can cause nausea while you read the description, but Adams and Goode have enough charm to make sure you don't toss your popcorn. They can't save the movie, but they make it slightly bearable.

Written by Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont, Leap Year, as you probably expect, is full of every cliché you can imagine. Anna is subject to pratfall after pratfall as her trip to Dublin is delayed by every form of weather known to mankind. She's a snooty, uptight gal who wears six-inch stilettos as she makes her way across the muddy Irish countryside, while Declan is a salt of the earth commoner, so, of course, opposites will attract (it doesn't hurt that both are smokin' hotties, I have a feeling Anna wouldn't be falling for Ray Romano in similar circumstances). Golly gee, they might even be fighting like cats and dogs throughout most of the movie, until they realize their hate is just passion burning underneath the surface!

Yes, you have seen this movie before, but Adams and Goode make the most of it. Adams is super charming even with below average material, and Goode makes his Irishman more like Bono than the Lucky Charms Leprechaun, so you are willing to watch the forced dialogue and situations, even though part of you is a bit embarrassed for the two.

Leap Year is good for a lighthearted get away from the world, but not much else.

Leap Year is rated PG for sensuality and language.