NOTE: This is a reprint of my review from the Middleburg Film Festival. The Last Five Years opens February 13th.
You better LOVE musicals before even thinking of sitting through The Last Five Years. A straight-arrow adaptation of Jason Robert Brown's play, the film is 100% singing with only a smidge of extra dialogue thrown in. At its heart, the film is a pure and true love story, with all of the ups and downs we've come to expect from the genre, but what makes it remotely enjoyable despite some serious flaws is the talented duo at its heart: Anna Kendrick and Jeremy Jordan.
For those who have been following Kendrick since she burst on the scene in Todd Graff's musical, Camp (If you've never seen her "Ladies Who Lunch" rendition check it out now!), her unique combination of acting and singing ability have been obvious from the start. She's obviously shown it since in Pitch Perfect and will again in the sequel, but she's never had to pour out the emotion quite as she does in The Last Five Years. The story is pretty simple, which is an issue in and of itself but we'll get to that later. The only two characters of consequence are Cathy and Jamie, who begin blissfully in love but soon are dealing with the dissolution of their marriage. The title tells you everything as their tale begins at the tearful end, and we are taken through the last five years to see how things reached such a sad fate.
Cathy and Jamie both start off in the same place, young New Yorkers struggling in their chosen field. He's a writer looking for his big break, she's an actress wanting the same thing. When Random House calls and offers him a fat deal to publish his book, fame and fortune soon follow. But for poor Cathy, it's one failed audition after another and soon she's venturing as far off-Broadway as possible, doing summer theatre in Ohio. It's his newfound success that drives the initial, and really the only wedge between them as jealousy begins to rear its ugly head. While he's doing the whole book tour thing, she's either tagging along feeling like a third wheel or at home stewing in loneliness and self-pity. At the same time, he's dealing with issues of fidelity as women suddenly want to get to know him better. In one of the film’s most quippy songs, he laments that he wishes every woman but Cathy would just fly away and disappear.
Obviously, that's not going to happen but the bigger problem is that we don't necessarily feel anything for Jamie's plight. He comes off like an arrogant jerk for most of the film, except for one beautiful and catchy song titled "Schmuel" where he sings a story designed to bolster Cathy's confidence. It's one of the few times where we see him express a genuine care for her well-being. At the same time, she comes off as equally selfish for the most part, wallowing in misery and acting like deadweight on his career. The resentment they begin to feel for one another is the resentment we start to feel towards them, but then Kendrick and Jordan are so likable that you simply can't. While most of the songs sound the same and are mostly forgettable, both actors pour every bit of their heart into them. Kendrick brings the spunk and charisma we've come to love her for, while Jordan's sheer energy and enthusiasm are a constant presence. They've got a difficult burden to carry because writer/director Richard LaGravenese doesn't change much from the original material, which was clearly designed for the stage not the cinematic experience. A movie requires an escalation of emotional beats that simply aren't there because the focus is on the music rather than feelings, and after about 45 minutes of hearing what sounds like the same song it can get exhausting. On the other hand, LaGravanese pulls out the stops to keep the scenery fresh. Switching up color palettes to reflect the shifting mood is a nice touch, and he even pulls out an extensive one-shot take during one of the more downbeat latter songs.
The Last Five Years is quite the ambitious effort for such a modest production, and all involved give everything to make it a success. But ultimately this is a film for musical aficionados only. The rest need not apply.
Rating: 2.5 out of 5
