Written by Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller
Running Time: 124 minutes (2h, 4 mins.)
Rated R (for sexual content, and language throughout.)Distributor: Universal Pictures
After two great collaborations together, whether it was bringing back The Muppets or giving us the ultimate romantic disaster movie (Forgetting Sarah Marshall), actor/screenwriter Jason Segel and screenwriter/director Nicholas Stoller team up once again with producer Judd Apatow to give us The Five-Year Engagement, the unusual-but-ambitious story of a couple's engagement that spans half a decade due to the complications in their lives.
The movie starts out all and well for Tom Solomon (Segel) and Violet Barnes (Emily Blunt), but when Violet gets a post-doctorate job at the University of Michigan, Tom goes from his high-paying job at a fancy San Francisco restaurant to serving sandwiches in Michigan. From there, Tom starts to lose his mind, Violet's sister Susie (Alison Brie) marries Tom's best friend Alex (Chris Pratt) as they already hooked up at the engagement party, and the main couple transition from happy to depressed.
The Five-Year Engagement strays away from being just another formulaic rom-com. Not only does the Apatow-style of humor help, but shades of unexpected dark humor help as well. So does the performances from its talented ensemble cast. Segel and Blunt have believable chemistry. As does Pratt and Brie, two standouts. Rhys Ifans, Jacki Weaver, Mindy Kaling, Kevin Hart, Mimi Kennedy, David Paymer, Lauren Weedman, Chris Parnell, Brian Posehn and Dakota Johnson fill the rest of the ensemble with equally engaging supporting roles.
It doesn't beat Forgetting (or to a lesser extent, Get Him to the Greek, since that was a spinoff of Forgetting) and it is a little longer than it should be (which, like Tom & Violet's relationship, can strain even the plot a bit), but The Five-Year Engagement is still solid.
Rating: 7/10.
