Leap Year Issues

[blpurdom]

Is anyone besides me getting pissed off every time an ad comes on for the film Leap Year? The bit that's getting to me is the old man telling Amy Adams' character that, during a leap year, it's okay, in the country of Ireland, for a woman to propose marriage to a man

Comments

[laurel_potter]

I thought the couple looked a bit like Harry and Ginny, but otherwise, I haven't seen the commercials, but WTF?

[blpurdom]

WTF indeed!

[trillian_stars]

Yep. I proposed to kylecassidy and it seemed to be okay.

[blpurdom]

Why wouldn't he be--it was you! :D

[huehau]

That commercial pisses me off too and for the same reason. The first time I saw it I wondered why she had to travel all the way to Ireland to propose--it's not like it's against the law in the US for the woman to propose.

[blpurdom]

The way the old guy says it in the clip is like this is all carved in stone, hard and fast rules that you can't break or something, like all of that stuff about how much of your income you're supposed to spend on an engagement ring and other myths.

Ptooie to all of that!

[christinaathena]

There were old customs about women proposing on Leap Day, but that's pretty outdated. >_< And I'm pretty sure the custom existed in the US, too, and not just Ireland.

Is that the whole plot of the movie? O_O

[blpurdom]

I don't think it's the whole plot (she supposedly plans to propose to one guy and ends up being attracted to another) but it does pretty clearly seem to be the McGuffin getting her to Ireland. (I'm also pretty sure there are still some places in this country where Sadie Hawkins Day stuff happens and they make a big deal about women taking the initiative, as if this is impossible the rest of the time, so using this as an excuse to get her to Ireland specifically is pretty lame.)

It's also not clear why this is being released now. Last year (2008) had a Leap Day, but we're coming up on 2010 now. WTF?

[mrs_bombadil]

The promo annoys me too.

What I've heard about the movie is that it's not really intended to be taken that literally. I believe that she simply embraces the tradition to time the proposal she intends to make, not that she actually thinks this is the only way she can or should do it. I think the plot is supposed to be more about her falling for somebody else.

[blpurdom]

It mostly seems to be the McGuffin getting her to Ireland, as I stated above. It's still really annoying because of the implication that women aren't "permitted" to do this in any other time or place. And Leap Year being the title also places more importance on this than is warranted if this isn't terribly central.

A film that mines similar ground that I liked a lot was The Matchmaker, with Janeane Garofolo, but she wasn't going to Ireland during a matchmaking festival because she was desperate to get married; she was doing it for her job and got stuck being there at what was for her a very embarrassing time, with everyone misinterpreting her motives. (JG is also exactly the same age I am, which you definitely can't say for Amy Adams.)

I just wish they'd used any excuse on the planet to get Amy Adams' character to Ireland other than the one they picked.