Quizzically staring at the blue screen, I could not stop wondering why. Why had I believed I would like this film? Sure, it starred a couple of people I like—Emily Blunt and Jason Segel—and it seemed like an entertaining notion enough, but I don’t normally like rom-coms in the first place. What was it that hooked me in and raised my expectations?
Oh, yes. The association with Bridesmaids. I suppose anything that’s associated with the funniest movie ever made—a movie that finally gets being female and surrounds female friendships rather than the whole “getting the boy” syndrome—is bound to get my attention.
It was a poor association, even if made by the same folks, because The Five Year Engagement was not engaging at all. It was annoying, sometimes gross, and more depressing than anything else. Blunt, typically a seemingly smart young woman, was made to appear quite stupid a few times in the film, while Segel’s character was so one-dimensional—and later, so bland and pathetic that you wonder why they are together in the first place—that it made my eyes burn to watch them. They had more chemistry in Gulliver’s Travels, for Pete's sake! Forget humor, forget romance; there was just this sort of hopelessness that makes you want to turn off the DVD player. I wish that I had.
