Amir here with a new edition of Yes, No, Maybe So. Today’s film is The Five-Year Engagement from the Apatow production machine, starring Emily Blunt and Jason Segel, who also co-wrote the film.
Yes...
• JACKI WEAVER EVERYONE! The Oscar-nominated Aussie surely deserves more demanding roles but at least she didn’t totally fade away as we feared, given her age and outsider status. The movie also has Mimi Kennedy who never fails to make me laugh out loud. After Midnight in Paris, this looks more than a bit like typecasting to me, but if she can find a way to be as funny as in In the Loop we’re in for big laughs.
•Jason Segel’s been having a good few years after he forgot Sarah Marshall. He’s actually proved to be a better comedy writer than an actor. His most recent feature is, of course, in theatres now (The Muppets) and it’s been extremely well-received. Can we assume his hot streak will continue?
No, Maybe So... and the trailer after the jump.
No...
• Most comedies show off their best jokes in the trailer. If that’s the case here, PASS.
It’s sorta like when you’re on a treadmill and you tell yourself I’m gonna run five miles today and now it’s forever miles.
• Whatever it tells you about me, my favourite moment in the trailer is when Jason Segel gets hit in the nuts by the fire hydrant. That can’t be a good sign.
• Nothing about this trailer looks particularly original. We can make a checklist of things we’ve seen in other films before and it’s gonna add up to almost the entire two minutes of this clip. Getting hit by the opening car door? Seen it in a hundred times! That awkward moment when your best friend tells your fiancé about past relationships? Seen that one too! Jason Segel doing a little dance in a naked apron? Seen it when he was actually naked in Forgetting Sarah Marshall! If Bridesmaids, whose producers are name-checked, was a successful hit, it’s because it felt fresh. Take note of that.
Maybe So...
• Though I've personally never been truly impressed by Emily Blunt, somehow I know she has something more in her that we've yet to see. This film hardly looks like the acting showcase that will bring that out but her finest work in mainstream films has been in comedies. If she can do as well as Devil Wears Prada and Sunshine Cleaning, she’s going to be fun.
• Nicholas Stoller’s only directorial credits are his two collaborations with Segel on Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Get Him to the Greek. They improved the second time so maybe third’s the charm? If you look back at the Greek trailer, it didn’t have any of the film’s funniest moments and it didn’t even show Rose Byrne who was Fantastic with a capital F, so maybe there’s more of Weaver or Kennedy in the film?
• That tiny snapshot of Segel with a beard that makes me think the trailer might be hiding some of the better bits of the film.
I’m willing to give Segel and his team the benefit of the doubt so I’m a maybe so. The only other option on the weekend of this film’s release is a Jason Statham flick, so if grading on a curve, yes.
Are you a Yes, No or a Maybe So?