Leap Year - Control freak and scruff on the romcom road to love

Mismatched travelling companions Amy Adams and Matthew Goode go on a meandering, mishap-strewn journey across Ireland in new romantic comedy Leap Year. And at every step of the way – from strained set-up to predictable conclusion - you can tell just how tough it is for today's romcom writers to play matchmaker with any conviction.

Adams plays control-freaky American Anna Brady, who is so fed up with waiting for her cardiologist boyfriend to propose that she decides to surprise him in Dublin on 29 February and pop the question herself. Goode is the laid-back Irish publican, Declan, who gets roped in to taking her across country to the capital after bad weather strands her on the other side of Ireland.

As Anna and Declan make their way across country, bickering and sparring as they go, you know it is only a matter of time before this chalk ’n’cheese duo fall in love. No romantic comedy or Emerald Isle cliché is left unturned, but Adams and Goode’s charm should be enough to get an indulgent viewer to the finishing line.

On general release from 26th February.

Jason Best

A film critic for over 25 years, Jason admits the job can occasionally be glamorous – sitting on a film festival jury in Portugal; hanging out with Baz Luhrmann at the Chateau Marmont; chatting with Sigourney Weaver about The Archers – but he mostly spends his time in darkened rooms watching films. He’s also written theatre and opera reviews, two guide books on Rome, and competed in a race for Yachting World, whose great wheeze it was to send a seasick film critic to write about his time on the ocean waves. But Jason is happiest on dry land with a classic screwball comedy or Hitchcock thriller.