adminFilm: I Give it a Year
Cast: Rose Byrne, Anna Faris, Rafe Spall, Simon Baker, Minnie Oliver, Jason Fleming, Stephen Merchant, Olivia Colman, Jane Asher, Claire Higgins, Sarah Locklar. Director: Dan Mazer
Type of film: Romantic Comedy
Running time: 98 minutes
Cinema: Eastgate
Age restriction: Adults only
Prof. Joel White
At the Movies
Perhaps after you have seen the film “I Give it a Year” you’ll agree with my view: “Never have the writer of a film also be its director”. When a movie-maker directs his own film he never knows when it is enough or too much. A perfect example of why I have long believed this is seen in the film “I Give it a Year. “
Since marriages today are increasingly between two people who have already cohabited, it would seem logical that the divorce rate should be dropping. But, clearly, the opposite is the case.
The title of this film – I Give it a Year, – uttered at the wedding by a guest of Josh and his bride Nat – is, in my opinion, overly generous.
Each has recently split from a live in lover and each has his/her head in the clouds with business projects which are keeping them on the hop.
Further, Josh has unwisely invited to the wedding the girl, Chloe, he had most recently dumped for Nat.
She has clearly not taken gracefully the abrupt separation; is openly seeking a way to retaliate against the girl who is taking her place.
This aspect of the inevitable difficulty we come to see is soon revealed to us as a minor hurdle when we are introduced to an American businessman who has come to London, presenting to the new bride a whole rainbow of possible enrichment.
Guy Harrup is the American’s name, and he is presented to both the audience and the new bride as one who casts a serious doubt on the wisdom Nat has shown in linking herself to Josh.
We know trouble is coming when we see that every time Nat has a business discussion with Guy, the American entrepreneur, she has previously removed her wedding ring. Those of us who go way back in moving picture history know that the wedding ring is only removed when mischief is soon to follow.
The film is set in London and for those of us who are committed Anglophiles, the opportunity to flee Harare’s crowded pavements for those of similarly crowded London is more than enough to ignore this film’s inanities. But at a price.
I refer here to the almost endless flow of the most vicious and violent language. Scenes of overt sexuality and nudity are commonplace. Another step along the way to where are films going?
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