At the outset of this rom-com from director Anand Tucker (last seen tapping Blake Morrison's book And When Did You Last See Your Father? for on-screen sap) and screenwriting team Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont (the duo behind Made of Honor and The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas), Anna (Amy Adams, why?), a Boston-based micro-manager, announces that "it's not about luck, it's about preparation" before falling for handsome stranger Declan (Matthew Goode) while en route to Dublin to propose to long-time boyfriend Jeremy (Adam Scott) on Leap Day. What irony!
She should have just cut to the chase and proclaimed, "I know where I'm going!" — since this "original" screenplay has clear origins in the 1945 Michael Powell/Emeric Pressburger classic. As a tearful Anna perched on a cliff near the end, I was tempted to shout, "Jump! Jump!", while wishing that Kaplan and Elfont would join her.
