Succinct Sunday - I Give It A Year

To Be... Or Not Meant To Be

Meet newly-weds Nat (Rose Byrne) and Josh (Rafe Spall).  They've only been together a few months and decide to get hitched.  No one thinks they'll make it, estimating it will end in divorce in less than a year. Defiantly, Josh and Nat struggle through a first year of marriage fraught with arguments, mistrust and temptation on both sides. Nat's new boss (Simon Baker) and Josh's ex-girlfriend (Anna Faris) seem more compatible for them then their other halves. Can they cope with all these attractive alternatives in their way?

Romantic-comedies are one of the most beloved film genres out there.  They make us laugh, they make us weep and they are perfect material for that awkward first date.  However rom-coms need to deliver in balancing the romance and comedy. The classics like When Harry Met Sally, Bridget Jones' Diary and Four Weddings... do this expertly, but it is easy to mess this up.  And here is where we find I Give It A Year (or in honour of Succinct Sunday, IGIAY).

Whilst there is comedy in doses, mainly found in Jake's best man Stephen Merchant and their unhappily-married marriage counsellor Olivia Colman, the romance is sorely lacking.  I was incredibly confused with who the audience is supposed to be rooting for; are we supporting Nat and Josh trying to make it work despite their disagreements and chastise them for looking elsewhere, or are we hoping they pack in this loveless marriage and be with their other suitor?  

It flits between these two narratives at rapid speed and becomes a jumbled mess.  The mere fact that I was sat in a pool of my own confusion, asking myself if we were supposed to hate the killjoy Nat and relate to the care-free Josh, or if Josh was supposed to come off as immature rather than the professional Nat, shows that the film-makers might have made a mistake in their storytelling. 

It is admirable that they are wanting to create an anti-rom-com in the same vein as (500) Days of Summer, but whilst Summer successfully showed an audience that sometimes it doesn't end happily ever after, IGIAY is very conflicted and confused within itself.

I give it a 4/10.