The Five-Year Engagement (2012) Review

One year after they met Tom proposes to his girlfriend Violet. But things keep happening and the wedding gets pushed aside because of the twists and turns of life.

Not really sure where to start with this review as when this film finished I was not impressed at all. It felt more like watching for five years in a film which was just over the 2 hour mark . . . but it felt so much longer. Don’t get me wrong though I did laugh at some of the scenes early on but then it go too ridiculous even for a romantic comedy. Actually it was more of just a comedy than a romantic comedy, as it didn’t really have much romance.

At one point though I did like it, but I was very wrong in thinking that was the ending as it went on to go back on itself story-line and the point I thought it was trying to make. Violet is very ambitious with her career and this sees the couple move from San Francisco to Michigan and Tom quitting a very good job to be with the woman he loves. You can understand that this is going to cause so problems and fast.

I thought that the film was going to prove that once you do something like that for someone you will always resent them and regret it when everything goes wrong in your life, in this case Tom. As he cannot accept a better job he was going to be offered before he left San Francisco. Violet takes too long to understand how unhappy Tom actually is and her psychology experiment makes her realise this (yes really).

I feel like the whole film just didn’t fit with the trailer and what everyone was expecting it to be. Which I wouldn’t have minded leaving the romance out but the ending goes back on everything we have just seen. Leaving us wondering what point the film was trying to make if it was going to be very over the top in the remaining five minutes. I am trying to make my point without spoiling the film!

We have probably grown to expect much more from Jason Segel than we got in this film, but I guess we aren’t going to like everything he does. I really wouldn’t recommend this film as did not find it an enjoyable experience and was really hoping for it to end. Just as a warning it feels like it goes on and on . . .