Sparks fly when Nat (Rose Byrne, X-Men: First Class) and Josh (Rafe Spall, Life of Pi) lock eyes across a crowded room. Their connection turns to courtship, but I Give It a Year does not tell that story. Within seven months, the couple are engaged and then married, however their nuptials are not the film’s concern. Instead, the feature debut from writer/director Dan Mazer explores the early throes of their wedded life, with friends and family foretelling their relationship’s demise before their first anniversary.
The predictions from Nat’s unhappily married sister Naomi (Minnie Driver, Conviction) and Josh’s inappropriate pal Dan (Stephen Merchant, Movie 43) aren’t malicious, but grounded in the duo’s evident mismatch. Temptation on either side – in the form of her would-be client Guy (Simon Baker, Margin Call) and his ex-girlfriend Chloe (Anna Faris, The Dictator) – adds further fuel to the prognostications. I Give It a Year charts the couple’s incompatibility as their union unravels.
Cynicism drips from Mazer’s anarchic screenplay, with his background as a scribe for Sacha Baron Cohen’s well-known characters (including writing credits on Ali G Indahouse: The Movie, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan and Brüno) apparent. Alas, amidst the disorder and obvious disdain for the romantic comedy genre that provides the film with its foundation, humour is mostly absent.
Despite a concerted effort to elicit amusement, every attempt at satire and subversion succumbs to cliché. Traditional tropes are included only to be skewered, yet still submit to rom-com conventions, while gross-out gags and kooky characters provide the majority of the comic refrain. Similarly, much of the movie’s caustic commentary on married life is comprised of pseudo-sketch segments, however ill-fitting in the broader narrative they might be. Such scenes give Merchant all the best lines, and champion bit parts by Olivia Colman (Tyrannosaur) and Tim Key (Mid Morning Matters with Alan Partridge), but do little for the film’s cohesion.
Sporting a convincing British accent, Byrne adds weight to her caricature of a character. Spall, too, makes the most of a bumbling protagonist more commonly seen as supporting fodder. That both can’t quite transcend the simplicity of their adversarial relationship is not through lack of effort, but indicative of lacklustre material. The feature’s aim of presenting the breakdown of romance might make for less frequent film fodder (apart from 2012’s Celeste and Jesse Forever), however its utterly unspectacular execution mirrors all the pains and pitfalls of the oft-derided genre.
Rating: 1 ½ stars
I Give It a Year
Director: Dan Mazer
UK, 2013, 87 min
In cinemas: February 28
Distributor: Hopscotch
Rated: M
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