''Leap Year'' is a 2010

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

directed by Anand Tucker and written by

Harry Elfont Harry Elfont (born April 5, 1968) is an American screenwriter and film director. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and raised in nearby Lower Moreland Township, he met his creative partner Deborah Kaplan while they were both enrolled at the Ti ...

and Deborah Kaplan. ''Leap Year'' stars

Amy Adams Amy Lou Adams (born August 20, 1974) is an American actress. Known for both her comedic and dramatic roles, she has been featured three times in annual rankings of the world's highest-paid actresses. She has received various accolades, incl ...

and

Matthew Goode Matthew William Goode (born 3 April 1978) is a British actor. Goode made his screen debut in 2002 with ABC's TV film feature '' Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister''. His breakthrough role was in the romantic comedy ''Chasing Liberty'' (2004), f ...

. The film follows a real estate worker who heads to Ireland to ask her boyfriend to accept her wedding proposal on

leap day February 29, also known as leap day or leap year day, is a date added to leap years. A leap day is added in various solar calendars (calendars based on the Earth's revolution around the Sun), including the Gregorian calendar standard in m ...

, when tradition supposedly holds that men will not refuse a woman's proposal for marriage. Her plans are interrupted by a series of events and are further complicated when she hires an Irish innkeeper to take her to her boyfriend in Dublin.

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as a ...

took place in County Wicklow,

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

, County Mayo, and County Galway, with filming taking place in and around the

Aran Islands The Aran Islands ( ; gle, Oileáin Árann, ) or The Arans (''na hÁrainneacha'' ) are a group of three islands at the mouth of Galway Bay, off the west coast of Ireland, with a total area around . They constitute the historic barony of Aran i ...

Connemara Connemara (; )( ga, Conamara ) is a region on the Atlantic coast of western County Galway, in the west of Ireland. The area has a strong association with traditional Irish culture and contains much of the Connacht Irish-speaking Gaeltacht, ...

, Temple Bar,

Georgian Dublin ''Georgian Dublin'' is a phrase used in terms of the history of Dublin that has two interwoven meanings: # to describe a historic period in the development of the city of Dublin, Ireland, from 1714 (the beginning of the reign of King George I ...

, Wicklow National Park, and Olaf Street,

Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

. ''Leap Year'' premiered in New York City on January 6, 2010 and was released theatrically on January 8, 2010, by

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

in the United States and on February 28 by

Optimum Releasing StudioCanal Limited, operating as StudioCanal (formerly Optimum Releasing), is the official branch of StudioCanal in the British Isles. The company releases many films, including foreign, anime (mostly Studio Ghibli), independent, art, British, ...

in Ireland. The film received mostly negative reviews from critics, with many criticising the film’s pacing, plot and limited chemistry between Adams and Goode. The movie is inspired by the 1945 movie '' I Know Where I'm Going!''.

Plot

Successful real estate stager Anna Brady is frustrated that her cardiologist boyfriend Jeremy Sloane still has not proposed to her after four years. She decides to travel from

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, to propose to him on February 29,

, while he is there at a conference. Anna wishes to invoke an Irish tradition, Bachelor's Day, that a man who is proposed to on leap day must accept the proposal. During the flight, a storm diverts the plane to

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

. Anna hires a boat to take her west to Cork. The severity of the storm forces her to be put ashore at a small seaside village called Dingle. Anna requests Declan O'Callaghan, a surly Irish innkeeper, to taxi her to Dublin. At first he refuses, but after his tavern is threatened with foreclosure, he agrees to drive her for €500. Along the way, he mocks her belief in a leap year tradition of women proposing to men. A herd of cows blocks the road. Anna steps in cow dung while attempting to move the animals, and tries to clean her shoes while leaning on Declan's car, which causes it to roll downhill into a stream. Continuing on foot, Anna flags down a van with three travellers who offer her a lift. Ignoring Declan's warning, Anna hands them her luggage. They drive off without her. Anna and Declan make their way on foot to a roadside pub, where they discover the three thieves going through Anna's luggage. Declan fights them and retrieves Anna's bag. While waiting for a train, they ask each other what they would grab if their homes were on fire and they had only 60 seconds to flee. They lose track of time and miss the train. They are forced to stay at a

bed & breakfast Bed and breakfast (typically shortened to B&B or BnB) is a small lodging establishment that offers overnight accommodation and breakfast. Bed and breakfasts are often private family homes and typically have between four and eleven rooms, wit ...

Tipperary Tipperary is the name of: Places *County Tipperary, a county in Ireland **North Tipperary, a former administrative county based in Nenagh **South Tipperary, a former administrative county based in Clonmel *Tipperary (town), County Tipperary's na ...

, where they pretend to be married so that their conservative hosts will allow them to stay. During dinner, when other couples kiss to show their love for each other, Anna and Declan are "forced" to kiss as well. This stirs feelings that neither had expected. They sleep in the same bed, but do not admit their new feelings for each other. While hitchhiking, Anna and Declan are caught in a hailstorm and take shelter in a nearby church, where a wedding is taking place. They are invited to the reception, where Anna gets drunk. Anna questions her own intentions with Jeremy and realizes that she has feelings for Declan. Just as the two are about to kiss, Anna vomits and passes out. The following day they arrive in Dublin. Declan reveals he was once engaged but his fiancée ran off to Dublin with his mother's

claddagh ring A Claddagh ring ( gle, fáinne Chladaigh) is a traditional Irish ring in which a heart represents love, the crown stands for loyalty, and two clasped hands symbolize friendship.George Frederick Kunz (1911). Rings for the Finger: From the Earlie ...

and his best friend. Anna suggests that while in Dublin, he should ask for his mother's ring back. When they arrive at the hotel where Jeremy is staying, Jeremy surprises Anna by proposing to her right in the lobby. Seeing that Declan had already walked out of the hotel, she accepts Jeremy's proposal. At their engagement party in Boston, Anna learns that Jeremy proposed because he thought it was the only way to appease the co-op board of the apartment building the couple wanted to move into. Dismayed, Anna pulls the fire alarm and waits, testing the 60-second concept she discussed with Declan earlier. Jeremy retrieves all of their electronic materials and neglects to check for Anna. Anna realizes there is nothing in the apartment that means anything to her, including Jeremy. Meanwhile, in Dublin, Declan retrieves his mother's claddagh ring from his ex-fiancée. Anna returns to the tavern in Dingle, where Declan has pulled together the balance he owed his property owner with the help of the community. She tells him she has broken off her engagement and proposes that they get together, and not make plans. Declan leaves. Thinking she has been rejected, Anna rushes outside to the edge of a cliff overlooking the sea. Declan emerges, revealing that he went out to retrieve his mother's claddagh ring. Declan says he wants to make plans with her, and proposes on the cliffside. Anna happily accepts. They drive away in Declan's car, leaving their destination open to fate.

Cast

as Anna Brady *

as Declan O'Callaghan * Adam Scott as Jeremy Sloane * John Lithgow as Jack Brady, Anna's father * Kaitlin Olson as Libby Brady * Noel O'Donovan as Seamus *

Tony Rohr Tony Rohr (born 1940) is an Irish actor. Career Rohr played Grandad in '' The Lakes'' and Solomon Featherstone in ''Middlemarch''. He has also appeared in ''The Bill'', '' The Long Good Friday'', '' McVicar'', '' Softly, Softly'', ''Crown Cour ...

as Frank * Pat Laffan as Donal * Alan Devlin as Joe *

Ian McElhinney Ian McElhinney (born 19 August 1948) is a Northern Irish actor and director. He has appeared in many television series in a career spanning more than forty years; notable appearances include ''Taggart'', '' Hornblower'', ''Cold Feet'', and ''T ...

as Priest *

Vincenzo Nicoli Vincenzo Nicoli (born 27 July 1958) is a British actor who appears in film, television and theatre. He is best known for roles in blockbuster films, such as Alan Jude in the 1992 science fiction film '' Alien³'' (1992), Enrico Biscaglia in the ...

as Stefano *

Flaminia Cinque Flaminia Cinque (; born 20 August 1964) is an English actress. She is based in London, England. Her voice roles include Lillian Gopher and Merv Wombat in ''Gophers!'', Flamingo in '' Tinga Tinga Tales'' and Ester in the children's animated telev ...

as Carla * Peter O'Meara as Ron *

Dominique McElligott Dominique McElligott (born March 5, 1986) is an Irish actress. She has appeared as a series regular on '' Raw'' (2008), ''Hell on Wheels'' (2011–2012), '' The Astronaut Wives Club'' (2015), '' House of Cards'' (2016–2017), '' The Last Tycoon' ...

as Bride * Liza Ross as Edith

Production

On October 17, 2008, it was announced that

was to star in the film as Anna Brady. On November 23, Anand Tucker signed on to direct the film, with

and Deborah Kaplan collaborating on the screenplay. On February 12, 2009, it was announced that

would be playing the role of Declan O'Callaghan, the surly innkeeper. On March 18, it was announced that Adam Scott was to play Jeremy Sloane, Anna's long time boyfriend, and that Kaitlin Olson would play Libby, Anna's best friend. The film was shot in County Wicklow,

, County Mayo and County Galway, with filming taking place in and around the

, Temple Bar,

, Wicklow National Park and Olaf Street,

. On October 19, it was announced that

Randy Edelman Randy Edelman (born June 10, 1947) is an American musician, producer, and composer for film and television. He began his career as a member of Broadway's pit orchestras, and later went on to produce solo albums for songs that were picked up by ...

had been chosen to compose the film's score. The decision to choose Edelman came as a surprise, as Tucker had used Barrington Pheloung for two of his previous films, '' Hilary & Jackie'' and '' When Did You Last See Your Father?''.

Soundtrack

An audio CD soundtrack for ''Leap Year'' was released on the

Varèse Sarabande Varèse Sarabande is an American record label, owned by Concord Music Group and distributed by Universal Music Group, which specializes in film scores and original cast recordings. It aims to reissue rare or unavailable albums, as well as newer r ...

record label on January 12, 2010. That album contains only the original score, composed and conducted by

. The musical selections that were used, and credited at the end of the film, are not available on the CD. Those include: * "More and More of Your Amor" by Nat "King" Cole ( Bitter:Sweet's production released 2009) * "I Want You" by

Kelly Clarkson Kelly Brianne Clarkson (born April 24, 1982) is an American singer, songwriter, author, and television personality. She rose to fame after winning the first season of ''American Idol'' in 2002, which earned her a record deal with RCA. Her debu ...

* " I'll Tell My Ma" by the Colonials featuring Candice Gordon * "

The Irish Rover "The Irish Rover" is an Irish folk song about a magnificent though improbable sailing ship that reaches an unfortunate end. It has been recorded by numerous artists, some of whom have made changes to the lyrics over time. The song describes ...

" by the Colonials featuring Candice Gordon * "Day to Day" by Eulogies * "Waltz with Anna" by the Brombies * "Patsy Fagan" by Dessie O'Halloran and Sharon Shannon * "Within a Mile of Home" by

Flogging Molly Flogging Molly is an Irish-American seven-piece Celtic punk bandLife Is Good Out Now
Floggingmolly.c ...

* "Buffalo Gals" by the Brombies * "A Pint for Breakfast" by the Brombies * "Leaping Lizards" by the Brombies * "The Staunton Lick" by

Lemon Jelly Lemon Jelly is a British electronic music duo from London that formed in 1998 and went on hiatus starting in 2008. Since its inception, the band members have always been Fred Deakin and Nick Franglen. Lemon Jelly has been nominated for awards ...

* " Dream a Little Dream" cover by Cass Elliot * " Only Love Can Break Your Heart" by Gwyneth Herbert * " Never Forget You" by

Noisettes Noisettes are an English indie rock band from London, currently composed of singer and bassist Shingai Shoniwa and guitarist Dan Smith. The band first achieved commercial success and nationwide recognition with the second single of their se ...

* "You Got Me" by

Colbie Caillat Colbie Marie Caillat (; born May 28, 1985) is an American singer-songwriter. She rose to fame through social networking website Myspace. At that time, she was the number one unsigned artist of her genre. After signing with Universal Republic ...

, over the closing scene/credits * " Just Say Yes" by Snow Patrol, used in the trailer

Release

The film opened at the American box office at number 6, with a modest US$9,202,815, behind blockbusters ''

Avatar Avatar (, ; ), is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means "descent". It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, goddess or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appeara ...

'', '' Sherlock Holmes'', '' Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel'', as well as ''

Daybreakers ''Daybreakers'' is a 2009 science-fiction action horror film written and directed by Michael and Peter Spierig. The film takes place in a futuristic world overrun by vampires, and centers around a vampiric corporation which sets out to captur ...

'' and '' It's Complicated''. The film's final gross of US$25,918,920 in the United States against a production budget of US$19,000,000. In addition to this, the film made US$6,688,396 in international markets, for a final worldwide gross of US$32,607,316. ''Leap Year'' was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

in the United States on May 4, 2010. It debuted at number 4 on the American DVD rentals chart, with a first week rental index of 56.63. It placed 5th on the DVD sales chart, selling an estimated 159,843 units, and has sold almost 800,000 units in total to April 2013.

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

the film has an approval rating of 23% and an average rating of 4.30/10 based on reviews from 141 critics. The site's critical consensus is that: "

is as appealing as ever, but her charms aren't enough to keep ''Leap Year'' from succumbing to an overabundance of clichés and an unfunny script'." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

the film has a

weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

score out of 33 out of 100, based on 30 reviews. Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade B on scale of A to F. Roger Ebert of the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago ...

'' gave it 3 out of 4, and described ''Leap Year'' as a 'full-bore, PG-rated, sweet rom-com'. 'It sticks to the track, makes all the scheduled stops, and bears us triumphantly to the station'. Owen Gleiberman of ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...

'' gave the film a B− grade, stating that the film could have used more 'pizzazz'.

Nathan Rabin Nathan Rabin (; born April 24, 1976) is an American film and music critic. Rabin was the first head writer for '' The A.V. Club'', a position he held until he left the ''Onion'' organization in 2013.

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

, gave it a grade of C− and concluded, "The film functions as the cinematic equivalent of a Shamrock Shake: sickeningly, artificially sweet, formulaic, and about as authentically Gaelic as an Irish Spring commercial". A. O. Scott of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' saw it as "so witless, charmless, and unimaginative, that it can be described as a movie only in a strictly technical sense".

Richard Roeper Richard E. Roeper (born October 17, 1959) is an American columnist and film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times''. He co-hosted the television series '' At the Movies'' with Roger Ebert from 2000 to 2008, serving as the late Gene Siskel's success ...

gave it a C−, stating that it had a 'Recycled plot, lame sight gags,

Leprechaun A leprechaun ( ga, leipreachán/luchorpán) is a diminutive supernatural being in Irish folklore, classed by some as a type of solitary fairy. They are usually depicted as little bearded men, wearing a coat and hat, who partake in mischief. ...

-like stock Irish characters,' adding that 'The charms of Amy Adams rescue ''Leap Year'' from Truly Awful status'. Donald Clarke of ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

'' gave the film one star out of five, and in a scathing review, described it as 'offensive, reactionary, patronising filth' and cited the film as evidence that 'Hollywood is incapable of seeing the Irish as anything but

IRA Ira or IRA may refer to: *Ira (name), a Hebrew, Sanskrit, Russian or Finnish language personal name *Ira (surname), a rare Estonian and some other language family name *Iran, UNDP code IRA Law *Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, US, on status of ...

men or twinkly rural imbeciles'. Paul Whitington of the Irish Independent describes the film as "grotesque and insulting

paddywhackery Stage Irish, also known as Drunk Irish, or collectively as Paddywhackery, is a stereotyped portrayal of Irish people once common in plays.

" and says Goode is out of his depth as he "struggle badly with his accent". The film's lead actor Matthew Goode admitted 'I just know that there are a lot of people who will say it is the worst film of 2010' and revealed that the main reason he signed on to the film was so that he could work close to home and be able to see his girlfriend and newborn daughter.

References

External links

Page from Studio Canal
* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Leap Year (2010 Film) 2010 films 2010 romantic comedy films American aviation films American romantic comedy films English-language Irish films Films about weddings Films produced by Roger Birnbaum Films scored by Randy Edelman Films set in Boston Films set in Ireland Films shot in County Kildare Films shot in County Wicklow Films shot in Dublin (city) Films shot in the Republic of Ireland Irish romantic comedy films Spyglass Entertainment films Films directed by Anand Tucker Irish aviation films American comedy road movies Irish road movies 2010s English-language films 2010s American films