IHAO on ... The Five-Year Engagement

First off, this is the most mis-marketed poster ever.  Oh yeah, this movie comes from the folks that made Bridesmaids, the raunchy woman romance comedy.  And that chick from Community is in it, and that guy from Parks and Rec!  Wooooo!

No.  NO.  This movie is a drama, with sprinkled bits of humor.  It is not raunchy, at all.  It is also not the style of comedy of Bridesmaids at all.  AT ALL.  This is also nothing like Forgetting Sarah Marshall.  NOTHING.  Forgetting Sarah Marshall is touching, and sweet, and hilarious, and memorable.  And this is ... a little funny, a little interesting, and basically unmemorable, though the more I sit here and talk about it with my roommate, the angrier it makes me.  We just watched the movie.  JUST watched it as I am writing this at 3:30 in the morning.  And we cannot remember either of the lead characters' names.

In this film, two successful people in a relationship have to make hard life decisions as they go through their engagement and more and more life things get in the way.  Also, they communicate very poorly and are surprisingly spiteful all throughout act 2.  Also, the comedy part of the dramedy is merely some chuckles here and there.  And characters quite literally telling the funny parts to stop being funny.

17 seconds of the movie that proves my above point.  Oh wait, I'm supposed to be less on the nose with these comments.  The film should also have been less on the nose, like all the time.  

The movie has a lot of real simple writing for plot, because what it wants you to do is feel for the characters and to know the characters.  A noble endeavor, but ultimately makes the film feel weak and having no bite to it.  There's no meat to sink into, just a lot of mushy drama.  I am almost willing to call it melodrama.  Here's an example of weak plot to create the melodrama (I decided it is melodrama): Emily Blunt's character doesn't get into the grad school of Berkley she wants, but does get into Michigan State.  Of course, why the hell does she apply to Michigan State at all when she lives in San Fransisco and wants to presumably stay in the area?  Well, you see, that's the problem; you cannot argue Michigan at all, or else it unravels the whole film like one of Chris Parnell's sweaters.

The film is filled with these little plot problems.  Little convenient writing spots of easy writing, like the villain is not actually villainous in the slightest but he is treated villainously anyway, or that a grandparent dies every time someone says "no one is going to die" or something like that.  This movie just doesn't do anything terrible, and is well acted, but it certainly doesn't push itself beyond being average.  I think for a romantic film, a lot of people might really enjoy it.  But I found it hokey, melodramatic, and ultimately unearned emotionally.

Grade: C