The Five Year Engagement

A engaged couple cannot seem to take the final step, and keep putting off the wedding as things in life crop up...

One year after a romantic meeting Tom makes the perfect proposal to his girlfriend Violet and the ultimate wedding looks to be on the cards; but unexpected events keep preventing the the couple from tying the knot.

Chef, "Tom" has a thriving career at a top restaurant in San Francisco, but is willing to give it all up when "Violet" receives the invitation to take up her ultimate job in rural Michigan as a psychology major. They decide to push back the wedding and after "Violet" receives an extension on her contract, plans change once again.

As Tom is less and less happy with his life and his lack of career, his mental state deteriorates, as he, all the time comparing his life to the happy marriage of his best friend and his sister in law. The years go by and things get tense, with the couple discovering an engagement can only last so long...

Although somewhat enjoyable, this film was just flat and not particularly memorable. I am not sure if the script writers set out to write a romantic comedy or a romantic drama. There were a few laughs in the story, but they could have done so much more with this film. There was a distinct lack of chemistry between the leading players,  that made you wish the director would have focused more on the smaller parts who had tons of the stuff.

Jason Segel, who has brought us such crackers as "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" and "Bad Teacher", takes the lead role as "Tom Solomon" in this one and shows without a shadow of a doubt, that his talents are best served in true comedic roles. He seems to lack the depth of character to pull of this deeply disturbed and macabre role; but does create a few laughs and, although a truly pathetic character, does get the audience behind his plight. His mustache during his "meltdown" period is one of the finest you would ever hope to see.

British actress Emily Blunt has had a fantastic last few years and, although let down slightly by the script, delivers a very decent showing as "Violet Barnes". She works perfectly with her group of colleagues in the film, but the chemistry is sadly missing from her relationship. Having seen her recently challenged in "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen", you got the feeling that this was well within her talent scope. I would like to see her return to more serious roles, but she does well in this one.

The combination of Chris Pratt and Allison Brie, as "Alix and Suzie", the seemingly perfect couple, is a breath of fresh air to this film, and makes you wonder why the makers did not spend more time focusing on this pair. Rhys Ifans does a spectacular job as the rather dodgy, yet mysterious older mentor "Winton Childs", while Lauren Weedman is probably the highlight of the film as the feisty "Chef Sally".

The film fails to really get off the ground, trying hard to be a romance or a comedy, but never a really effective combination of the two. It dragged in places, with long periods where the audience might become bored, but did have its odd comedic elements and was not a total loss. It's worth the watch, but don't expect too much

5.5/10