I Give It a Year is a 2013 romantic comedy film, written and directed by Dan Mazer and starring Rose Byrne, Rafe Spall, Anna Faris and Simon Baker. The film was based and filmed in London and was released on 8 February 2013.

I Give It a Year
UK release poster
Directed by	Dan Mazer
Written by	Dan Mazer
Produced by	Tim Bevan Eric Fellner Kris Thykier
Starring	Rose Byrne Rafe Spall Anna Faris Simon Baker Stephen Merchant Minnie Driver Jason Flemyng Olivia Colman
Cinematography	Ben Davis
Edited by	Tony Cranstoun
Music by	Ilan Eshkeri
Production companies	Working Title Films Canal+ Ciné+ TF1 Films Production Anton Capital Entertainment Paradis Films
Distributed by	StudioCanal
Release date	8 February 2013 (2013-02-08) (United Kingdom)
Running time	97 minutes[1]
Countries	United Kingdom France
Language	English
Budget	€12.7 million[2]
Box office	$28.2 million[3]

I Give It a Year was Mazer's directorial debut. He was previously best known for co-writing the Sacha Baron Cohen films Borat and Brüno.

Plot

Ambitious ad exec Nat and struggling writer Josh fall in love at first sight at a party. After seven months together they decide to marry. The film highlights their struggles during their first year of marriage, switching back and forth from flashbacks of the year to a marriage-guidance counsellor's office. Their wedding goes as planned despite many friends' commenting that the marriage will not last, an embarrassing best man's speech, and a coughing priest.

When Nat returns to work after the honeymoon, she's embarrassed when Josh calls her in the office, on speakerphone in front of her colleagues, to tell her she is sexy and that he misses her, causing her to abruptly hang up on him. Later, they meet with their solicitor to discuss how to handle medical crises (last wishes). Nat is annoyed when Josh, knowing she would be late, told her the wrong time so as to turn up early.

They throw a dinner party to use their wedding gifts. Some of their differences are highlighted when talking about the honeymoon in Morocco; Nat didn't enjoy the leather museum whereas Josh remembers it as interesting. When the topic changes to Chloe, Josh's former flame, Nat discovers they never officially broke up when she went to Africa for four years. In the kitchen Chloe apologises to Nat for not realising she didn't know. The women talk about the constrictions of marriage. Nat's sister Naomi has issues with her own husband's annoying habits. Josh's best man Danny asks Chloe out but is rebuffed.

Nat tries to discourage Josh from accompanying her to a work party so she can flirt with Guy, but he is determined, irritating her. At the party, he dances embarrassingly and stands next to a poster he can joke about during the night. When he approaches Nat while she's talking with Guy, she doesn't reveal he is her husband. Guy attempts to shake him off, believing he's an unwanted menace. He asks her to dinner and Nat declines. Annoyed at Josh for embarrassing her at the party, she heads home without him.

Josh arrives at a restaurant party organised to celebrate his and Nat's first anniversary and he tells her he thinks she is the perfect wife, just not for him. He asks for a divorce and she immediately and delightedly agrees. They rejoice at the situation and immediately leave the party one after the other.

Meanwhile, Guy and Chloe are at the railway station waiting to go to Paris on a romantic trip. Josh finds them, professing his love for Chloe. When it's discovered that he split up with Nat, they are shocked. Nat appears behind Josh, who awkwardly assumed he is the one she wants to speak to, but she is there for Guy. After a short exchange they happily discuss how perfect Guy and Chloe are for them. In the end, Chloe and Guy mutually break up. Nat ends up kissing Guy and Chloe shares a kiss with Josh.

Cast

• Rose Byrne as Nat Redfern
• Rafe Spall as Josh Moss
• Anna Faris as Chloe
• Simon Baker as Guy Harrap
• Stephen Merchant as Danny
• Minnie Driver as Naomi
• Jason Flemyng as Hugh
• Olivia Colman as Linda
• Jane Asher as Diana
• Nigel Planer as Brian
• Clare Higgins as Elaine
• Sue Wallace as Janet
• Daisy Haggard as Helen

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 51%, with an average rating of 5.50/10, based on 82 reviews. The website's consensus for the film reads, "It's nowhere near as inventive as its reverse rom-com premise might suggest, but I Give It a Year is disarmingly frank -- and often quite funny."[4] On Metacritic, the film has score of 50% based on reviews from 23 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[5]

Peter Keough of The Boston Globe wrote "Though Mazer’s ambition is laudable, he has not yet integrated the comedy of manners into the comedy of no manners."[6] Stephanie Merry of The Washington Post wrote "In addition to some trite set pieces, writer-director Dan Mazer serves up nothing more than conspicuous cynicism masquerading as comedy."[7]

Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave the film 3 out of 5 stars and wrote: "The result is funny and plausible, with a fair bit of newly modish Bridesmaidsy bad taste, though I kept getting the sense that the romcom template meant Mazer couldn't really let rip with pure comedy pessimism and cynicism in the way he might have liked."[8] Olly Richards of Empire wrote: "The jokes are strong and delivered by a very talented cast, but the heart isn’t there. It’s easy to laugh, but hard to care."[9]

Box office

The film accumulated a total domestic gross of $34,657 with it only generating $5,436 on its opening weekend ranking it at #77. It went on gross a worldwide total of $28,234,657.[3]

Home media

I Give It a Year was released on DVD and Blu-ray on June 3, 2013.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to I Give It a Year.

• Official website
• I Give It a Year at IMDb
• I Give It a Year at AllMovie
• I Give It a Year at Box Office Mojo
• I Give It a Year at Metacritic
• I Give It a Year at Rotten Tomatoes
• I Give It a Year Soundtrack

На других языках

[de] Das hält kein Jahr…!

[ru] Даю год