Review: Leap Year (PG)***

There is absolutely nothing wrong with a traditional, all-out, heart-on-its-sleeve chick flick. Neither is there anything wrong with the term chick flick given that it reflects a movie that, in turn, reflects its audience. Leap Year is a chick flick and a perfectly balanced one in the mould of Pretty Woman.

Alas this Oirish rom-com swaps the fairytale of the Gere/Roberts pairing for a thick slab of Irish whimsy. Still, it remains a winner thanks to the inspired casting of Amy Adams as a lovelorn American battling to reach her bland fianc and Matthew Goode as the barman who agrees to be her chaperone.

Anna (Adams) plans to propose to Jeremy (Adam Scott) on February 29 while he's in Dublin. He doesn't know she's coming and, when her plot is derailed by a succession of travel disasters, she reluctantly agrees to let rural publican Declan (Goode) drive her to her destination.

As the days drag on they face all manner of typically Irish obstacles: cows, yokels, rain and mud. Lots of mud.

Trapped in a picture postcard idyll with an Irish hunk, Anna's thoughts turn to romance. Naturally she slowly begins to fall for the gentle charms of her rough-hewn companion.

Leap Year is a painting-by-numbers affair that nevertheless ticks every box. It is cheeky and corny but never prurient or salacious, instead adopting the tone of a Boulting Brothers or Ealing comedy with a modern

edge.

Girls will love the two-hander between Adams and Goode as the warring pair. Guys will buy into it, too – even if they do have to be dragged along.