Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Amy Adams’ Leap Year is a romcom recommendation that surfaces on streaming at this time every year. When I first watched it a decade ago, I was not impressed. However, I recently gave it another try and found it interesting because it lines up with some of my recent thoughts about storytelling. I’ll show you what I mean.
ONE
While the credits roll, establish Anna as a professional stager (for real estate sales) who has applied with her cardiologist boyfriend, Jeremy, for an exclusive apartment. Tease a “special dinner” later between them, including the possibility of a marriage proposal.
TWO
Throughout, we see that Anna likes to be in control and doesn’t like chaos. She meets her alcoholic father, who’s late, in a bar, and we understand why she wants an ordered and planned life. When Dad learns that Jeremy is on his way to Dublin for a convention, he mentions the Irish leap year tradition: the women propose marriage to the men.
THREE
At the “special dinner”, Jeremy produces earrings instead of an engagement ring. All of Anna’s expectations are dashed, although she says nothing.
FOUR
Anna decides to follow Jeremy to Dublin and propose to him on February 29th. Travel misadventures occur; she hires rural publican Declan to drive her across the country. They don’t particularly like each other.
SWITCH
Forced to share a hotel room, including Anna in a towel after her shower, they each realize that maybe they like each other instead.
FIVE
The shared hotel room becomes a shared bed scene. They don’t touch, staying on their own sides, but they smolder. As their travel misadventures continue, they become closer. When they finally reach Dublin, Declan takes Anna to her hotel. As they extend their goodbyes in the lobby, neither willing to leave, Jeremy enters.
SIX
Jeremy proposes, going down on one knee in the hotel lobby, and presents a ring.
SEVEN
Declan, now that he’s in Dublin, calls his ex-fiancee so he can retrieve his mother’s beloved Claddagh ring.
Anna, on the flight home with Jeremy, gazes out the plane window. In their apartment, the one they interviewed for, Jeremy admits that he proposed to Anna as a qualifying condition for tenancy. We know from her face that she’s decided to leave.
EIGHT
Declan, who’s managed to save his pub from the landlord, throws a celebration. Anna arrives, surprising him, and proposes. With his mother’s Claddagh ring, Declan accepts and goes down on one knee.
NINE
The two of them take a road trip in Declan’s temperamental car. Anna is willing to go anywhere, with no planning necessary.
CRITICAL NOTES
This is an incredibly disciplined and efficient structure. Most of the One is during the credit roll. We don’t need more than that because the editing is so succinct. During the Two, John Lithgow as Anna’s dad has few minutes of screentime, but he kills it. (This is why you spend money on a cameo.) Again, this is all we need.
The Three and Six connection — Jeremy without a ring and Jeremy with a ring — is so sharp. It Mirrors, it advances the story, it affects the Seven and Eight. Perfect.
The Switch is exactly what we expect from a romcom. In the Four the couple is antagonistic; in the Five the couple starts to fall in love.
And here’s where my complaint begins. In my opinion, this film has legs — it reliably shows up on streaming — because its structure is magnificent. It’s not a great movie, though. I couldn’t have told you a thing about the Four or Five because I didn’t remember anything. The beats pass by without any belly laugh or distress. Anna is uptight and must learn to relax; we’ve seen that romcom heroine a million times. Declan is closed off and unserious; ditto for the hero. As I was recently saying, the Four and Five are deceptively critical to nail.
Consider a great romcom, Overboard (1987). In the Four, the snooty Joanna must adjust to Dean’s tricks and the rough lifestyle of his family. In the Five, when they begin to love each other, she cares for the family, while underneath is the tension that she’s there because of Dean’s lies. He regrets what he’s done, but he can’t figure out how to fix it. If that movie popped up on my TV, I would keep watching whatever random moment happened to be on. The Four and the Five are the meat of the entertainment.
That’s not to say that Overboard’s structure isn’t great. I would bet that it’s excellent. However, I can’t talk about that now because it clearly belongs in Ship Weekend, which is a May and not a March holiday. Haha! We’ll see, but I did promise to look this year at the best ship movie ever made, Master and Commander.
Until then, may your shamrocks extend for acres, may your drop-of-the-pure be bottomless, and may your shillelagh be ever at hand.