So crude and cliché, you’ll need a year to recover

I Give it a Year has been fairly well received in the English-speaking world, and that led me to await this romantically deconstructing romcom with some excitement. While I have my reservations about the male lead Spall (Pete Versus Life), his costar Byrne (Bridesmaids) is alright in my book, so I thought if nothing else, I Give It a Year might gratify some guilty pleasure centres in my brain.

But I was completely out of luck there. Although this feast of gross-out slapstick comedy avoids scenes of vomiting, urination or defecation – rather prim for its genre these days – I came away as disenchanted as if every scene were a variation on that theme.

 

Fleshing out what would be an innovative plotline by stringing together totally isolated, mechanically-acted screwball vignettes, the best thing one can say about the film’s believability is that the people who end up together at least deserve each other. For a mainstream comedy, that’s pretty tragic.

 

The audience meets the protagonists on their wedding day and follow them through their first year of marriage with its ups and downs – mostly downs. Ill-suited in every way imaginable, no wonder we’re soon steamrolled by painfully lame and less-than-humorous scenes of nuptials unravelling. Of course the characters meet other people, and of course the end is a Hugh Grant-esque crescendo through rush-hour London traffic, with five minutes to correct a terrible misunderstanding. Believe me, I haven’t spoiled a thing.

 

Now maybe my impatience with this film is a bit elitist and conservative. Different strokes for different folks, right? So let’s cut it some slack. There is at least something commendable about the film’s almost sustained (but not quite) omission of clichéd propaganda in favour of heterosexual love and marriage. What it features instead, however, are jokes charged with male sexism and wrapped in lines plumbing the filthy depths of the English language (the writer-director was a contributor to both Borat and Brüno).

 

I Give It a Year is like a mischievous child who hasn’t yet learned to tell a joke – so he decides to scream vulgarities at the top of his lungs instead.

 

I Give It A Year (15)

 

Dir: Dan Mazer; UK romcom, 2013, 97 mins,

Rose Byrne, Anna Faris, Rafe Spall, Simon Baker, Minnie Driver

 

Premiered April 11

Playing nationwide




  • Analysis shows that many students from Bangladesh are enrolled in Danish universities

    Analysis shows that many students from Bangladesh are enrolled in Danish universities

    Earlier this year, the Danish government changed the law on access for people from third world countries to the Danish labor market. Yet, there may still be a shortcut that goes through universities

  • Danish Flower company accused of labor abuse in Türkiye

    Danish Flower company accused of labor abuse in Türkiye

    Queen Company, a Denmark-origin flower producer with pristine sustainability credentials, is under fire for alleged labor rights violations at its Turkish operation, located in Dikili, İzmir. Workers in the large greenhouse facility have been calling decent work conditions for weeks. The Copenhagen Post gathered testimonies from the workers to better understand the situation

  • Advice for expats: Navigating Life as an International in Denmark

    Advice for expats: Navigating Life as an International in Denmark

    Beginning this month, Expat Counselling will be contributing a monthly article to The Copenhagen Post, offering guidance, tools, and reflections on the emotional and social aspects of international life in Denmark. The first column is about Strategies for emotional resilience

  • New agreement criticized for not attracting enough internationals

    New agreement criticized for not attracting enough internationals

    Several mayors and business leaders across Denmark are not satisfied with the agreement that the government, the trade union movement and employers made last week. More internationals are needed than the agreement provides for

  • Let’s not fear the global – let’s use it wisely

    Let’s not fear the global – let’s use it wisely

    Copenhagen’s international community is not just a demographic trend – it’s a lifeline. Our hospitals, kindergartens, construction sites, laboratories and restaurants rely on talent from all over the world. In fact, more than 40% of all job growth in the city over the past decade has come from international employees.

  • The Danish Connection: Roskilde gossip, a DNA scandal & why young Danes are having less sex

    The Danish Connection: Roskilde gossip, a DNA scandal & why young Danes are having less sex

    With half of the population of Copenhagen at Roskilde this week, Eva away in Aalborg and the weather being a bit of a joke , Melissa and Rachel bring you a chatty episode to cheer you up looking into three of the top stories in Denmark this week.

Connect Club is your gateway to a vibrant programme of events and an international community in Denmark.


  • “It’s possible to lead even though you don’t fit the traditional leadership mold”

    “It’s possible to lead even though you don’t fit the traditional leadership mold”

    Describing herself as a “DEI poster child,” being queer, neurodivergent and an international in Denmark didn’t stop Laurence Paquette from climbing the infamous corporate ladder to become Marketing Vice President (VP) at Vestas. Arrived in 2006 from Quebec, Laurence Paquette unpacks the implications of exposing your true self at work, in a country that lets little leeway for individuality

  • Deal reached to bring more foreign workers to Denmark

    Deal reached to bring more foreign workers to Denmark

    Agreement between unions and employers allows more foreign workers in Denmark under lower salary requirements, with new ID card rules and oversight to prevent social dumping and ensure fair conditions.

  • New association helps international nurses and doctors Denmark

    New association helps international nurses and doctors Denmark

    Kadre Darman was founded this year to support foreign-trained healthcare professionals facing challenges with difficult authorisation processes, visa procedures, and language barriers, aiming to help them find jobs and contribute to Denmark’s healthcare system