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Thursday, April 3, 2014

I Give It a Year (2013) [R] ***

A film review by Peter Bradshaw, for theguardian.com on February 7, 2013.

Dan Mazer is the blackbelt comedy writer who worked with Sacha Baron Cohen on Ali G and Borat in their TV and movie incarnations. Now, as writer and director, he has been set the challenge of delivering a mainstream Anglo-Hollywood romantic comedy in the classic [Richard] Curtis / Working Title manner. The result is funny and plausible, with a fair bit of newly modish Bridesmaids-y bad taste, though I kept getting the sense that the romantic comedy template meant Mazer couldn't really let rip with pure comedy pessimism and cynicism in the way he might have liked.

Rafe Spall and Rose Byrne are Josh and Nat, two intelligent and attractive people who got married way too quickly: their fundamental incompatibility is now making itself agonizingly plain, especially as they are clearly attracted to other people, namely Josh's old flame, Chloe (Anna Faris), and Nat's dishy American client, Guy (Simon Baker). Josh's embarrassing best mate (and indeed best man) is Danny, played by Stephen Merchant, whose comedy has a heavy [Ricky] Gervaisian residue at odds with the tone of the rest of the film. There are plenty of laughs, especially from Olivia Colman as a marriage guidance counselor who breaks off sessions to argue with her husband on her mobile.

Labels: comedy, romance, satire

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