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Film REVIEWS
ROMANTIC COMEDY THE FIVE YEAR ENGAGEMENT (15) 124min ●●●●●
Following in the footsteps of last year’s excellent Bridesmaids, The Five Year Engagement is the latest romantic comedy from the seemingly endless Judd Apatow production line. Reuniting the Forgetting Sarah Marshall team of writer/director Nicolas Stoller and writer/star Jason Segel, producer Apatow assembles all the elements correctly, right down to the ideal leading lady for Segel in Emily Blunt. What’s missing, however, are the broad comic set pieces that made Bridesmaids such a smash. Tom (Segal) and Violet (Blunt) are a happy, affectionate couple with a long married life to look forward to. After a romantic proposal during a New Year celebration in San Francisco, wedding bells seem tantalisingly close, until Violet is offered a post at the University of Michigan. Tom, a sous chef, reluctantly puts his career prospects aside to go with her, but when Violet’s two year tenure lasts longer than expected, the tensions in their relationship lead to mutual infidelities.
Apatow’s output has always offered admirable sophistication about relationships, even if hidden behind the raunch of Knocked Up or Superbad. The Five Year Engagement adheres to the formula, spiced with predictable smatterings of dirty talk and male nudity, but there’s something missing. On the plus side, Segel and Blunt are charming as ever, as is the accomplished supporting cast including Chris Pratt and Rhys Ifans. And there’s a genuine pathos about Tom and Violet’s failure to get their lives on track that imbues Stoller’s film with real dramatic weight.
Unfortunately, without the required laughs, that hefty
dramatic weight doesn’t shift quickly enough over a two hour plus running time. It’s a shame that one of the few decent rom- coms in recent memory should lack enough comedy to balance out the unexpectedly truthful treatment of romance. (Eddie Harrison) ■ General release from Fri 22 Jun.
COMEDY FRIENDS WITH KIDS (15)107min ●●●●● DRAMA KILLER JOE (18) 103min ●●●●●
The directorial debut from actor and writer Jennifer Westfeldt (Kissing Jessica Stein) is a hit- and-miss comedy with a silly but interesting idea behind it: Jason (Adam Baker) and Julie (Jennifer Westfeldt herself) are best friends who decide, after observing their married friends’ post-baby relationships, that having children is the death knell for wedded bliss. They come up with a plan to have a child together so they can each go on to find their perfect partners and live happily ever after without needing more children. It sounds ridiculous, but the scene in which Jason and Julie hatch this plan is actually very funny. Also in the film’s favour is the fantastic cast, which includes Edward Burns, Kristen Wiig and a particularly on-form Jon Hamm. The problem with the film is its muddled tone: to begin with it is broad, vulgar and mostly unfunny, and then, all too late, it develops into a more effective Woody Allen-esque relationship comedy. But it does have the funniest nappy-changing scene of the year, and that’s got to be worth something. (Paul Gallagher) ■ General release from Fri 29 Jun.
Following his 2006 paranoid thriller Bug, William Friedkin swaps its motel room setting for an only slightly less claustrophobic trailer park in this second consecutive adaptation of a Tracy Letts play. Killer Joe may not have the grandiose vision of Friedkin’s The Exorcist but this will similarly appal those of a sensitive nature.
Lean, mean, violent and visceral, it is a sickly funny down-at-heel Texan noir populated by unlikeable characters doing unspeakable things. Immoral and in debt, Chris Smith (Emile Hirsch) plans to bump his (unseen) mother off for her $50,000 life insurance policy, split the proceeds with his hick father (Thomas Haden Church) and slutty stepmother (Gina Gershon), and keep the plot from his naïve younger sister (Juno Temple). Featuring a menacing Matthew McConaughey
as the ruthless title character hired to pull the trigger, there’s a real Pulp Fiction vibe as Friedkin stokes this pressure-cooker situation with lashings of sex and bloodshed. Twisted, tense and trashy, it’s glorious fun. (James Mottram) ■ Selected release from Fri 29 June.
ROMCOM SEEKING A FRIEND FOR THE END OF THE WORLD (15) 94mins ●●●●●
Lorene Scafaria, the writer of Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, begins her debut feature with the announcement that the final mission to save the Earth from obliteration by an asteroid has failed. Initially it’s hilariously cynical as, with just days to go, morality is flung aside. The film focuses on Dodge (Steve Carell), whose normal life is turned upside down: his wife legs it, his best friend’s wife makes a pass at him, colleagues commit suicide. However, it’s only when Dodge finds his neighbour Penny (Keira Knightley) crying outside his window that things take a truly dark turn – a turn for the naffly romantic, as the pair set out on a quest to find Dodge’s lost love. Carell might not be an imaginative choice for a
neurotic everyman but he’s characteristically genial. By contrast, Knightley makes light comedy look like hard work and her appearance is a sandbag to an already floundering film. Feeble and cloying from midway to its final throes, it begins with a bang but – inappropriately for the scenario – goes out with a whimper. (Emma Simmonds) ■ General release from Fri 13 July.
21 Jun–19 Jul 2012 THE LIST 73