5 Year Engagement – 4 years too long!
April 24, 2012 by pbenjay
Tribeca Film Festival design (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Today was my day and night at the movies! I got an early birthday present from my friend, Barbara – she took me to see Una Noche, a movies entered into the Tribeca Film Festival. Una Noche was a really well-done small movie. It won’t play in the big houses, it’s a small indie based upon a true story. But this post isn’t about that film…
This evening we went to see The Five Year Engagement, a film generating way more buzz than it deserves. It was actually the opening night movie for the Tribeca Film Festival! God, what does that tell us? Have film festivals sold themselves out to the big-monied studios who see regional film festivals as yet another way to promote their flicks ? I guess bus stop shelters, the sides of a city bus and posters in the subway stations are just not enough!
The Five Year Engagement has some very good actors and some fairly mediocre and as in the case of many a tennis match. the lesser players pulls down the game of the better. Emily Blunt is good, David Paymer was perfect for the role of Tom’s father and I particularly liked Lauren Weedman in the very minor role of Chef Sally.
The story is not unfamiliar to us; boy meets girl, they instantly fall in love and a year later decide to marry. But from the onset everything about the engagement is awkward. The extended on again and off again engagement took 5 years, the movie was 124 minutes. They should have gotten married right after the first year and the movie should have been 86 minutes. By the way, 86 minutes is my new code word for the appropriate length of a movie or show that is going on too long. There was a whole big middle in this one that could have been cut out.
It was supposed to be a romantic comedy and yes I did laugh out loud at several lines but I didn’t think it was very romantic. This movie is typical of what is being produced today, too long, too trite, too many mini bytes and a think story line at best.
When we got home and turned on the television, The Way We Were, was playing. Now there’s a romantic movie. First of all, it had Robert Redford, Barbra Streisand and Bradford Dillman. And the story had depth, interest, several characters all acting like real people rather than caricatures of of themselves. I mean a knitted tuxedo, deer hoof mugs and home-made honey mead (The Five Year Engagement)? Really now!!!
If you want to see a romantic movie with your significant other, I strongly suggest you stay home and rent The Way We Were. It’s cheaper, better, shorter and you’ll be be able to reach for the tissues without bothering anyone else in the theater.
Like this:
Like Loading...
Related
Bill Ding and his band of clowns are the security patrol for this blog site. He is a favorite toy from the 50*s. By the way sometimes a blog is just an ego-maniacal stream of conscience.
Pbenjay's Blog 
5 Year Engagement – 4 years too long!
April 24, 2012 by pbenjay
Tribeca Film Festival design (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Today was my day and night at the movies! I got an early birthday present from my friend, Barbara – she took me to see Una Noche, a movies entered into the Tribeca Film Festival. Una Noche was a really well-done small movie. It won’t play in the big houses, it’s a small indie based upon a true story. But this post isn’t about that film…
This evening we went to see The Five Year Engagement, a film generating way more buzz than it deserves. It was actually the opening night movie for the Tribeca Film Festival! God, what does that tell us? Have film festivals sold themselves out to the big-monied studios who see regional film festivals as yet another way to promote their flicks ? I guess bus stop shelters, the sides of a city bus and posters in the subway stations are just not enough!
The Five Year Engagement has some very good actors and some fairly mediocre and as in the case of many a tennis match. the lesser players pulls down the game of the better. Emily Blunt is good, David Paymer was perfect for the role of Tom’s father and I particularly liked Lauren Weedman in the very minor role of Chef Sally.
The story is not unfamiliar to us; boy meets girl, they instantly fall in love and a year later decide to marry. But from the onset everything about the engagement is awkward. The extended on again and off again engagement took 5 years, the movie was 124 minutes. They should have gotten married right after the first year and the movie should have been 86 minutes. By the way, 86 minutes is my new code word for the appropriate length of a movie or show that is going on too long. There was a whole big middle in this one that could have been cut out.
It was supposed to be a romantic comedy and yes I did laugh out loud at several lines but I didn’t think it was very romantic. This movie is typical of what is being produced today, too long, too trite, too many mini bytes and a think story line at best.
When we got home and turned on the television, The Way We Were, was playing. Now there’s a romantic movie. First of all, it had Robert Redford, Barbra Streisand and Bradford Dillman. And the story had depth, interest, several characters all acting like real people rather than caricatures of of themselves. I mean a knitted tuxedo, deer hoof mugs and home-made honey mead (The Five Year Engagement)? Really now!!!
If you want to see a romantic movie with your significant other, I strongly suggest you stay home and rent The Way We Were. It’s cheaper, better, shorter and you’ll be be able to reach for the tissues without bothering anyone else in the theater.
Related articles
Rate this:
Share this:
Like this:
Related
Posted in From My Point of View - Personal commentary on Movies and Books | Tagged Barbra Streisand, Bradford Dillman, David Paymer, Emily Blunt, Film festival, Robert Redford, Tom, Tribeca Film Festival | Leave a Comment
Comments RSS