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The student news site of Milwaukee Area Technical College

MATC Times

The student news site of Milwaukee Area Technical College

MATC Times

The student news site of Milwaukee Area Technical College

MATC Times

Engagement Interrupted

Tuesday, April 17, was an explosive day of talent and expression at MATC in the T Building auditorium.
The movie, written by Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller, produced by Judd Apatow and directed by Stoller, tells the story of Tom Solomon (Segel of “How I Met Your Mother” and “Forgetting Sarah Marshall”), a semi-successful sous chef in San Francisco who nervously proposes to his girlfriend of one year, Violet Barnes (Emily Blunt of “The Devil Wears Prada” and Mrs. John “Jim Halpert” Krasinski), before the actual arranged proposal on New Year’s Eve.

The couple met the year before at a Halloween party when she was dressed as the late Princess Diana and he was dressed as Super Bunny.  Violet, of course, accepts the proposal (or this movie would’ve been titled something completely different), but that’s not the problem. The problems really begin when she accepts a Psychology teaching assistantship at the University of Michigan and completely uproots Tom from their lives in San Francisco.

Segel and Blunt are great playing the straight man and straight woman while their supporting cast, especially Chris Pratt (of “Everwood” and “Parks and Recreation”), Alison Brie (of “Scream 4” and “Community”) and Chris Parnell (of Saturday Night Live) steals the movie during certain points. That is not to say, however, that Segel and Blunt weren’t funny. The only problem is that Segel basically played the same role he plays on “How I Met Your Mother,” only with f-bombs and no pants.

 The movie was also laden with subplots that I found hilarious such as Violet’s new life in Michigan. It is there that she’s required to work with Vaneetha (Mindy Kaling, not stretching her acting far from how she is as Kelly Kapoor on “The Office”), a colleague who seemed to only be there for snark,  Ming (Randy Park), a colleague obsessed with covering his test subject in blood and feathers while sleeping only to scream in the subject’s ear, Doug (comedian Kevin Hart), a colleague obsessed with masturbating and Winton, the group’s seductive, Welsh boss (Rhys Ifans). Together, the five work on a study involving – I kid you not – stale donuts and their link to emotional stability. Meanwhile, Tom’s life in Michigan leads him to go hunting with Bill (Parnell), another “psychology spouse” who also is a stay at home father that knits.

There’s also an additional subplot in the case of the relationship that forms between Alex, Tom’s best friend (Pratt) and Suzie (Brie), Violet’s sister, who actually gets married before Tom and Violet. Another subplot thrown into the movie is how the engagement affects Violet’s grandparents, as well as a subplot that seems very eerie to last year’s indie darling “Like Crazy.”

“The Five Year Engagement” manages to fit physical humor, an incessant use of f-bombs and nudity in two hours, which was rather long for me. It was also annoying that any film Judd Apatow is attached to has half of the people that works for NBC in it (see also: Ellie Kemper of “The Office” and former “Saturday Night Live” actress Maya Rudolph in the movie “Bridesmaids”). Nevertheless, it was funny and the love story between Tom and Violet is not only humorous but romantically honest. This is definitely a movie to see with your girlfriends or with your significant other.
“The Five Year Engagement” is rated R for sexuality, strong language, use of alcohol and nudity.

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