Good afternoon Viewies, it’s a lazy Sunday for me which means its a new review for you!
Quick Synopsis: Newlyweds Nat and Josh find themselves in a marriage that’s crumbling apart once the honeymoon is over after meeting only seven months before the marriage began. Everyone is gambling they won’t make it a year; will they prove everyone wrong?
I watched this movie on a whim. Since I’ve started actually investing time into watching and reviewing content for this blog I’ve broke out of my comfort zone; this movie only had a 54% match with me on Netflix and this reason alone is why I watched I Give It a Year. But I’m so glad I did. From minute 2:02 of the movie until the credits started to run I laughed and gasped and was thoroughly entertained.
This movie is a Romantic Comedy from start to finish and it is very British with its’ humor (at least in my experience with British comedy). It’s classic dry humor mixed with what I can only describe as awkward humor; something so awkward is happening in the scene or the situation that you can’t help but laugh.
Rose Byrne (Neighbors), Anna Faris (House Bunny), and Simon Baker (The Devil Wears Prada, Lie to Me) are part of the main cast of this film. Rose Byrne plays Nat, a high up exec at an advertising company who recently married Josh, who is a Novelist. Anna Farris plays Chloe, a girl part of Josh’s friend group/ former lover/ charity worker. Simon Baker plays Mr. Steal-your-girl Guy Harrap.
We quickly find out that Josh and Chloe never formally broke up; Chloe went to Africa to volunteer and left Josh behind brokenhearted in 2008. This visibly irks Nat but the two leave that subject alone. The next day at work is where Nat meets Guy; he is a client of the company who Nat has been asked to handle his account. Her assistant sees how hot Guy is and makes Nat take her ring off to flirt and close the deal. They are immediately attracted to each other, which makes Nat feel some kind of way since she just got back from her honeymoon.
On the flip-side, Josh asks Chloe to dinner since he has writers block and Nat is at a business dinner but Chloe declines due to a date. This doesn’t sit real well with Josh but he plays it off as no biggie.
There are three narratives here: her life, his life, and their joint life at marriage counseling. Almost everything that happens in this movie is a montage of what has already happened and how they got into marriage counseling. They start counseling nine months in.
Fast-forwarding past the office party (a good scene so I’ll leave it up to you to watch so as to not ruin anything) is Chloe helping Josh with his Christmas shopping for Nat. She takes him to a lingerie store since casserole dishes just won’t due. While he browses, Chloe tries on a set; once Josh sets his eyes on Chloe, he can’t help but touch her and kiss her only to be pushed away since he was a wife.
While Josh is getting his thang on, Guy tries to woo Nat only for her to blurt out that she’s married. Nat runs out of the hotel meeting room and onto the street to have Guy follow, pleading his case. This is where Nat and Josh run into each other with Chloe and Guy. Somehow plans are made for a double date.
The double date goes just as well as one could imagine (so not well at all). That night is when Josh and Nat decide to go to marriage counseling. After all that, the counselor told them to try and make it to a year (remember they were at 9 months); after the year mark, if they weren’t happy they should cut their losses and move on. So for three months is was just them; no Guy, no Chloe, and effort on both their parts.
On their year anniversary, they were getting dressed for dinner and Nat walked in with her lingerie needing help. This is when both Josh and I realized it would never work; It was the exact same set Chloe had tried on and when Nat was wearing it, it didn’t really have an affect on him.
Josh takes off to go get his girl only to find Chloe is going away with some guy, specifically Guy (I had to do it once in this review lol). He jets off to dinner to tell Nat that he wants a divorce and she happily agrees; they hug and run off to go get their guy/girl. Only the guy/girl they were running to go get are with each other. Awkwardness ensues but a happy ending comes out of it.
Overall, it was funny and a romantic comedy in an unconventional kind of way since the main characters end up getting divorced but I’d watch it again in a few months and I would recommend it too. It was also a plus that Anna Farris didn’t have that high pitched, nasal-ly voice that I hate so much.
It goes to show Netflix ain’t got nothing on me; 54% my ass.
3.7/5 stars
Sorry Mom for all the cussing and Viewies you know what’s good; follow, like, subscribe, the whole damn 9.
As Told By Deanna 