Among Hollywood’s more dubious customs is the long standing practice of opening lame romantic comedies the first weekend of January.
“Leap Year” taxes the abundant charms of stars Amy Adams and Matthew Goode with scant payoff, in the tradition of “Bride Wars,” “27 Dresses” and “Just Married.”
I never realized Adams has a mole on the bottom of her chin, but apparently director Anand Tucker (“Shopgirl”) didn’t notice it either, even when the cinematographer decided to creatively shoot the star from below.
PAGE SIX: JOHN LITHGOW ‘LEAPS’ TO AMY AT PREMIERE
PHOTOS: AMY ADAMS’ LEADING MEN
The all-around carelessness of the project extends to the by-the-numbers script credited to Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont (the team behind the immortal “Made of Honor” and “Surviving Christmas”), reportedly with an anonymous assist from Oscar winner Simon Beaufoy (“Slumdog Millionaire,” “The Full Monty”).
I wouldn’t blame Beaufoy for not wanting to take any credit for this painfully contrived, hate-at-first-sight story about Anna (Adams), an uptight woman from Boston who somehow spends three days trying to cross Ireland, a country roughly the size of Pennsylvania.
Anna is on her way to Dublin to propose to her self-absorbed surgeon boyfriend (Adam Scott) on Feb. 29, taking advantage of an alleged Irish custom at the suggestion of her alcoholic dad (John Lithgow, who seems embarrassed to collect his one-scene paycheck).
Mostly Anna bickers with Declan (Goode), who agrees to drive her to Dublin even though she has nearly destroyed his inn by plugging in her cellphone without a current converter, a gag that was actually better done in “Just Married.”
Would a well-dressed woman like Anna actually not pack an extra pair of shoes in her single carry-on bag? Yes, she steps in cow dung.
Forced to snog Declan? Check. Forced to share a room? Check. She gets drunk at a wedding? You betcha.
Anna and Declan’s repartee isn’t exactly Tracy and Hepburn. The best insult she can come up with is to call him a “Lucky Charms leprechaun.”
(Universal Pictures no doubt charged General Mills for the product plug.)
She: “You will have to kill me before I pay you a dime!”
He: “Now there’s an idea!”
I have a better one: Rent “Enchanted” with Adams, and watch Goode as Colin Firth’s boyfriend in his other current movie, “A Single Man.”
“Leap Year” may be the least funny Hollywood comedy to take advantage of Irish tax credits since “The Honeymooners.”