Director: Richard Lagravenese; Screenwriter: Jason Robert Brown; Starring: Anna Kendrick, Jeremy Jordan, Bettina Bresnan, Charly Bivona; Running time: 92 mins; Certificate: 12A
Based on the off-Broadway musical from Jason Robert Brown, The Last Five Years charts the break-up of a marriage from duelling perspectives. Essentially, this makes it the feel-bad musical of the year, Blue Valentine with the perky songs masking marital despair.
Despite two capable stars in Anna Kendrick and Jeremy Jordan, and the Oscar-nominated Richard Lagravenese in the director's chair, The Last Five Years ends up being significantly less than the sum of its parts. In fact, it's a disappointment on pretty much every level, even leaving something of a sour taste in the mouth thanks to some dubious gender politics.
Jordan plays Jamie, an up-and-coming novelist whose career rapidly takes off while wife Cathy (Kendrick) struggles to make it as an actress. What kills this film stone-dead is...
Based on the off-Broadway musical from Jason Robert Brown, The Last Five Years charts the break-up of a marriage from duelling perspectives. Essentially, this makes it the feel-bad musical of the year, Blue Valentine with the perky songs masking marital despair.
Despite two capable stars in Anna Kendrick and Jeremy Jordan, and the Oscar-nominated Richard Lagravenese in the director's chair, The Last Five Years ends up being significantly less than the sum of its parts. In fact, it's a disappointment on pretty much every level, even leaving something of a sour taste in the mouth thanks to some dubious gender politics.
Jordan plays Jamie, an up-and-coming novelist whose career rapidly takes off while wife Cathy (Kendrick) struggles to make it as an actress. What kills this film stone-dead is...
- 4/17/2015
- Digital Spy
Chicago – Perhaps you’ve heard Anna Kendrick dabble in that thing called “singing” with her cutesy “Cups” on the radio, her runaway princess role in “Into the Woods” or “Pitch Perfect”.
But apparently it takes an under-the-radar indie film that adapts a commercially failed off-Broadway play for her to shine as a dramatic actress and especially carry the tune as a powerful, spine-chilling singer.
“The Last Five Years” is a tough watch, but it’s real – not in the way “Schindler’s List” is, but more like how “Birdman” is an honest portrayal of the behind the scenes of putting up a Broadway show in New York. And instead of the real life of staging a play, “The Last Five Years” is the true story of the burdens and blessings of an artistic male/female relationship merged with the nightmares and paid-off dreams of living as a struggling artist. I...
But apparently it takes an under-the-radar indie film that adapts a commercially failed off-Broadway play for her to shine as a dramatic actress and especially carry the tune as a powerful, spine-chilling singer.
“The Last Five Years” is a tough watch, but it’s real – not in the way “Schindler’s List” is, but more like how “Birdman” is an honest portrayal of the behind the scenes of putting up a Broadway show in New York. And instead of the real life of staging a play, “The Last Five Years” is the true story of the burdens and blessings of an artistic male/female relationship merged with the nightmares and paid-off dreams of living as a struggling artist. I...
- 2/22/2015
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
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