Mariage à l'anglaise

I always feel bad about being negative towards the British film industry. We don't have Hollywood's budget so I always try to support the national film industry. And, 'I Give it a Year' certainly boasts an impressive cast of fine British (and even American) actors.

It's about a couple who have only known each other for seven months before they decide to get married. This film charts the first year of their subsequent life together. The characters are all beautiful, rich, thin people who work in trendy London offices, live in stylish Victorian apartments and can afford lavish, high-society weddings. The male characters are either or both selfish or stupid (Rafe Spall attempting to 'out-annoy' Jar Jar Binks at some stages). And the American characters are seemingly parachuted into the story to save the lovelorn Brits.

I found the film a bit of an enigma. I stuck with it to the end and enjoyed some of it. Every scene felt like a sketch that would fit right in during an (adult) sketch show (think 'That Mitchell and Webb Look' or 'Armstrong and Miller'), however, using it in the context of an ongoing narrative, it just didn't work. The parts were funny; it's just they didn't seem to go with each other.

With the calibre of acting talent amassed here, it should have been brilliant, yet, despite being funny, it somehow left me cold. A weird contradiction in film-making.

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I file this in the same category as Death at a funeral and A few best men: a nominally funny premise where the comedy is shoveled on with a trowel in a 'quantity equals quality' approach. Stephan Merchant's lines in particular are so cringe-worthy that after the 10th faux pas you know he's going to say something offensive every time he opens his mouth so there is no shock value left. Rafe Spall seems to be treating this as a movie-length episode of 'Pete vs Life'. This is a British film but it has all the hallmarks of a typical U.S. gross-out comedy, and all the shortcomings of that genre too. If you don't believe in the characters as real people then the comedy becomes like watching a cartoon. Be warned: if you have seen the trailer, then you have seen all the best lines in the film.

With so many modern romantic comedies reaching the point of unintentional self parody, we have (thankfully) seen a niche segment emerge that aims to subvert the conventions that have plagued this once frothy and enjoyable genre. Fare like (500) Days of Summer, Celeste and Jesse Forever and Friends with Kids have seen the sins of the father and have come up with ways to please mainstream audiences but without insulting their intelligence. I Give It a Year joins these rare ranks and delivers a sometimes gut busting, always frank and enjoyably clever look at the trails and tribulations of marriage.

There are certainly times when this British-American hybrid goes too far with its crude dialogue or goofy awkward rants but writer-director Dan Mazer still clearly knows what is funny, and his time writing for Da Ali G Show has served him well in his directorial debut. Certainly the heart and soul of I Give It a Year comes with the well matched talents of its two main leads Rose Byrne and Rafe Spall as a newlywed couple who tied the knot after just seven months together. We often cut back to a session with a brash marriage counsellor who probably does more harm than good and also with Natasha and Josh's interactions with a former flame (Anna Farris) and a business connection (Simon Baker) who may play a larger role as things unwind. Either playing off one another or interacting with the supporting cast these two bring the laughs and a believable depiction of a union in distress.

As can often be the case with a peak into the lives of others, especially into one not on the best of terms, awkwardness follows and so is the case with this film. Like being present as a third wheel while a couple have a spat, some scenes in I Give It a Year ring uncomfortably true. Thankfully what this film avoids is painting either Nat or Josh as the reason for the troubles – never opting to paint the wife as merely the shrill, bitchy ninny or the husband as a slovenly tool. Each have their faults, each have their positive attributes and each have the chance to be at the receiving end of an unnecessarily cruel insult or judgement. So while not likable insofar as we're viewing them in tough times, we are able to rationalize with these people and view them as real humans, not just as the brunt of jokes or mere players in a game of marital politics.

The laughs in Mazer's film come from multiple facets, may it be the interplay between characters, situational humour such as a trip to a lingerie shop, or its (often vulgar) wit. The funniest scene (and of the best of the year) involves a visit from the in-laws and a digital picture screen and needless to say the way that Spall plays the situation is absolutely perfect and had be reduced to a cackling idiot. If one buys into the often sarcastic and overly clever dialogue will come down to the viewer, but for the most part it won me over, in large due to how the cast deliver the lines and react in turn.

I Give It a Year also concludes in a perfect way and one that stays true to the same awkward, sardonic tone the rest of the film adopts. To say it slaps in the face every film that wraps up with someone literally running to the airport last minute to proclaim their eternal love would be an understatement. A closer approximation would be that it puts those offerings in a sleeper hold and squeezes out every ounce of maddening cliché. It's satisfying, funny and refreshingly direct. This act is preceded by what is also one of the best "reunion" speeches I've ever heard. I won't spoil anything as to how it unfurls but it too is cooling in its candidness.

While unfortunately not quite parody and maybe never quite as clever as it intends, I Give It a Year is still rife with mirth and deftly understands elements of marriage, relationships and most importantly the irritating formula of the rom-com. Earning its R-rating and showing unequivocally that Byrne, Spall, Farris and Baker are the things of leading men and women, this often uncomfortable but ultimately earnest feature is fun from beginning to end – something, as this film reminds us, is nothing at all like marriage.

"I Give It a Year" is labeled as a romantic comedy. Well, sure that is true enough, though it is heavier on the romantic aspect as to what it is in the comedy department.

That being said, don't get me wrong. I am not saying that this movie is not good, because I actually did enjoy watching it. I am just saying, don't expect to be laughing a lot throughout the movie. I think I actually just laughed once, and it was during the photo-frame scene with the in-laws.

The story in "I Give It a Year" is a good story, especially because director Dan Mazer managed to tell it in a very captivating way, and managed to keep the movie running at a continuous flow. There weren't really any boring moments throughout the course of the movie.

To summarize the movie's storyline briefly, then Josh (played by Rafe Spall) and Nat (played by Rose Byrne) are married on nine months, but things are far from well. Especially because Josh's former love Chloe (played by Anna Faris) is in the picture. And things doesn't take a turn for the better when Nat lands a new client, an American named Guy (played Simon Baker) who is instantly charmed by her.

The cast really delivered some great and realistic performances here, and they had managed to get together a great ensemble of actors and actresses. Aside from the four lead actors and actresses, then it was also nice to see Jason Flemyng in this movie, his character was rather nice.

The movie is predictable, yes, but still, director Dan Mazer managed to keep the movie fresh and interesting from start to finish. If you enjoy movies that bear a resemblance to what you could experience in real life, and enjoy these type of romantic movies, then by all means, you should watch "I Give It a Year".

A lot of negative reviews for this... and I'll wager none of those reviewers are English.

There are lots of fantastic 'laugh out loud' moments in this ridiculous and exaggerated story of a young, badly thought out marriage. If you haven't seen it, it's as if Ben Elton had written 'Love Actually'!

Olivia Coleman is let off her leash as the insanely incompetent marriage guidance counselor. Minnie Driver is her usual genius self, gagging over young Justin Beiber. ("I'd destroy him!") The welcome sight of an older Nigel Planer is here too, as well as a host of other notable names and faces.

Rafe Spall overplays his hand as the likable fool, but really it's the howling moments when Stephen Merchant gets on screen that make this worth the price of admission. He's sublime as the appalling best mate and best man at the wedding. Stay till the credits to see him in action some more.

The whole movie is ludicrous and shouldn't be taken too seriously as a 'rom-com'. It's really just a screwball comedy.