The Five-Year Engagement

Wedding comedies aren't really my thing. I mean, granted there are some exceptions, but half of the time they just don't have that much impact on me, unless they actually have some good jokes to back it up. When it does, then it's worth it...however, that can't be said the same, for "The Five-Year Engagement".

The film is about this couple, Tom and Violet, who get engaged on New Year's Eve, just one year after they started dating. They plan their wedding, but certain things keep having it pushed back, and blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah, and it's just so cliche, bland, and boring as hell. And that's the key word for this movie: BORING. I'm telling you, I got so sick of this damn couple and this damn movie. All that was done about this movie was be padded and padded, with jokes that are just so immature, so obvious, and didn't make me laugh.

Jason Segal stars as Tom, and this just stands out, possibly as his worst performance. And that really disappoints me, because I do think Jason Segal can be funny. I love his work on "How I Met Your Mother" and I love some of the films he's been in. My problem, is that when he's co-writing for films in his films, he's always writing himself as a male love-interest. It worked before on certain episodes of "How I Met Your Mother" and it worked for "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" and "The Muppets", and one way or the other, he found a way to be funny. But he was just SO pathetic in this. Emily Blunt as Violet didn't make this any better. I mean, she was fine in "Dan in Real Life" and a couple other films, but other than that, she's not that interesting of an actress. This film also has Rhys Ifans, who plays Blunt's teacher, and was just REALLY annoying! I just HATED this character, and wanted to smack him in the face. Not to mention, for this to be marked as an 'R' rated movie, they didn't do much with it. All that was done was just use the 'f' word, very little sexual references, and showed very shallow nudity. If this film is going to show Jason Segal's ass, then couldn't they at least show Emily Blunt topless, just to even it out?

So, aside from all that was annoying, what WAS good about it? Well, I'll admit, I liked Chris Pratt as the best friend, even though he was the stereotypical sex-crazed friend, he actually redeems himself within time, when he gets married in the film. That brings us to Pratt's wife in the film, who plays Emily Blunt's sister, Allison Brie, who was the highlight of the film. She was just SO much fun to watch when she was on screen. It made me more interested in watching her and Pratt's relationship than Segal and Blunt's. I think the scene where I laughed the most with her, was when her daughter asks her and Blunt to talk like Elmo and Cookie-monster. I just couldn't stop laughing, imagining this dialogue being said by the two. However, that's all that was good about the film.

The film was directed by Nicholas Stoller, who also worked with Segal on "Forgetting Sarah Marshall". I was hoping the same thing would be expected for this film, mostly due to having Bill Hader and Russel Brand, but sadly this is not that film. Plus, Stoller has had his share of bad films, like "Get Him to the Greek", the so called 'spin-off' of "Forgetting Sarah Marshall". But you'd expect this to be like an improvement from "Greek", but it just doesn't have much to work with.

Overall, "The Five-Year Engagement" is a disappointing comedy, that doesn't have much to offer. It's just a bland, boring, sophmore-comedy that only has an 'R' rating just to be "edgy" or "hip". Just because a film's 'R' rated, doesn't mean it's worth it. But if you want to see the movie just for Allison Brie and Chris Pratt, then I'd suggest waiting for it to come on TV.

Rating: 1.5/5
3/10