The Five-Year Engagement

The Five-Year Engagement (Rated R)

• Starring Jason Segel, Emily Blunt, Chris Pratt, Alison Brie
• Directed by Nicholas Stoller
• Plot: An engaged couple keeps getting their wedding date pushed back by unexpected events.

It’s hard to tell whether Jason Segel is a better writer or a better comedic actor. 

As a comedic actor, he’s the second best part of CBS’s “How I Met Your Mother” (No one puts NPH in a corner.)  He also has a string of great roles in movies that he has balanced between funny turns in Hollywood classics to some indie films that really hit home.

As a writer?  Sure, this is only his third screenplay, but with “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” and bringing back “The Muppets”, he’s off to a hell of a start; “The Five-Year Engagement” just cements his role as one of the up-and-coming writers to watch.

Fortunately, we can enjoy him as both.

“The Five-Year Engagement” picks up where most romantic comedies end – with the proposal.  From there the movie documents the trip down the aisle.  Each time the couple (Segel and Blunt) gets close to taking their vows, something gets in the way.  Eventually, they start to question their relationship as more and more roadblocks threaten to pull them apart.

Segel takes a step up in maturity with this script.  Sure, it still has a lot of the gag humor he’s known for, but there is a heightened sense of realism in this project.  It’s not easy to pigeonhole this film into a genre.  It has elements of romantic comedy, but as mentioned above it has plenty of gag humor.  It also takes time to ponder the deeper meaning of relationships.   It’s like “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” merged with “Like Crazy.”

Jason Segel and Emily Blunt have great chemistry, and it makes the movie that much more enjoyable.  Blunt, like Segel, seems to have a knack for choosing the right scripts.   The movie also features a great performance from Chris Pratt.

The movie is a little on the long side; it could have probably used one more edit, but overall, it’s another great film from Nicholas Stoller and Jason Segel.

If you go into “The Five-Year Engagement” expecting “Forgetting Sarah Marshall”, you will most likely walk out disappointed (The person I saw the movie with felt that way).  If you go in with the right expectations though, you’ll find a real gem.  “The Five-Year Engagement” would also make a great date night.