You can smell the Judd Apatow all over The Five-Year Engagement right from the start. Lovable man-child meets a beautiful woman he's clearly meant to end up with, yet probably doesn't deserve. Apatow only serves as a producer on the film, but fortunately Nicholas Stoller and Jason Segel are well-versed in charming, formulaic comedies that come within a hair's breadth of overstaying their welcome. Forgetting Sarah Marshall fell into that category, and it didn't have the benefit of starring the irresistible Emily Blunt.
The film begins just as Tom(Segel) and Violet(Blunt) are meeting on a fateful New Year's Eve superhero costume party where he's dressed as a giant pink super-bunny(the suit will come into play, later), and she as Princess Diana. When Tom asks ravishing Violet what Di's superpower is, she simply replies "Princess Diana doesn't need superpowers". Not only is Tom instantly smitten, but so are we by the prospect of seeing these two together. Fast forward and the two are happily in love, and newly engaged. He's a sous chef making his name at one of San Francisco's finest restaurants. She is a psychology student with her eye on a dream gig at Berkeley.
Unfortunately, fate seems to be conspiring to keep them from walking down the aisle. Violet's sister, Suzie(Alison Brie), gets pregnant by Tom's horn dog buddy, Alex(the scene stealing Chris Pratt), and beat them to the wedding punch. That takes some of the wind out of Tom and Violet's sails, but what drives them off the rails completely is her not getting the job at Berkeley. Instead, she's offered an equally promising position at Michigan, and Tom being the supporting future hubby, gladly puts his dream aside so Violet can achieve hers. Happiness and ice cream all around, right?
Of course not, as Tom can't find a job he feels is worthy of his talents in a place like Ann Arbor(really!!?), and settles for what he thinks is a demeaning gig making the town's best sandwiches at Zingerman's. Look up the joint and you'll find that it's an upscale deli and a fixture of the city, but Tom doesn't see it that way. As she hits her stride professionally, Tom spirals uncontrollably, often with hilarious results. Sometimes they take it a touch too far, such as when Tom lets himself go to where he begins to resemble the Unibomber meets the cop from The Village People. Other times, they don't quite go far enough and the film feels overly simplistic.
The problem is that none of the issues that arise are quite enough to warrant the continued delaying of their wedding. Are Tom and Violet somehow incapable of marrying in Michigan? Was a law passed that none of us is aware of? They seem to be perfectly fine financially, and their doting family(including the wasted Jacki Weaver) are all too anxious to see it happen before all the grandparents croak. So everything that stands in the way of their nuptials is arbitrary. Stoller and Segel collaborated on the script, which finds the majority of its energy during the happy times, but the biggest laughs while Tom struggles to cope.
As Tom and Violet's squabbling worsens, and the pace begins to drag, you almost want to reach out and slap these people in the face and tell them to "Get it together!". There never comes a point where you want to see them break up for good, though, and that speaks to the unbelievable chemistry of the two stars. Blunt in particular has a bubbly warmth reminiscent of Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally. Even though she's a refined actress who can play Queen Victoria at the drop of a hat, it's her kooky side that is the most winning of all. She more than holds her own comedically opposite Segel, again in the emotional everyman role he's perfected. It would have been great to see Kevin Hart and the aforementioned Weaver have a larger part to play. Then again, there are so many great character actors that it would have been impossible for everyone to get their fair share, and with a running time that feels a bit too long it could be argued that some characters could have been dropped.
Inconsistent, but too cute and lovable to be totally denied, The Five-Year Engagement makes for the ideal date movie.
