i give it a year movie review

Movie Reviews

Tv/streaming, collections, great movies, chaz's journal, contributors, i give it a year.

Now streaming on:

Watching "I Give It a Year," a new romantic comedy directed by Dan Mazer (he also wrote the screenplay), is a bizarre experience. It's not romantic in the slightest, and it is quite comedic on occasion, but the parts don't fit together at all. It jerks along on its own jagged trajectory, with a silly soul dying to burst through and take over but never quite succeeding, and the end result is truly strange. "I Give It a Year" is clearly not interested in the common clichés of the genre, although said clichés are present and acknowledged. The title alone clues us in to the film's attitude about the marriage in question. The cast is terrific (from the leads down to those who have one or two lines), and there are a couple of sequences that made me laugh out loud, but the movie as a whole is baffling.

The opening sequence shows a montage of a whirlwind relationship between Josh ( Rafe Spall ) and Nat ( Rose Byrne ). They marry seven months after their first meeting. During the wedding ceremony, the priest has a coughing fit before he can say the words "husband and wife," and Minnie Driver , who gives a deliciously bitter performance as Naomi, Nat's sister, murmurs to her husband, "I give it a year." 

Surrounding the couple is a merry band of characters from the rom-com playbook. There is Danny, Josh's best friend, played by Ricky Gervais's long-time creative partner, Stephen Merchant . Danny brings the "inappropriate best man speech" to a new level of awkwardness, and you have to wonder about Josh's character that he would choose such a moron as a friend. Naomi and her husband ( Jason Flemyng ) live in a coiled state of mutual disdain. When Nat asks her sister for marriage advice, Naomi says with a supportive smile, "Embrace the hatred." Josh's ex-girlfriend Chloe (played by Anna Faris ) is an American ex-pat who works for a charity fighting epidemics in Africa. Josh and Chloe have remained friends, although the dismayed look on Chloe's face during the wedding reception is eloquent of unfinished business.

Josh is a novelist. He can't seem to finish his next book and spends his days lying around playing video games. Nat works as an executive in an ad agency, and is competent and driven. There is a class critique in the film. Nat says to someone that she was accustomed to driving Ferraris, and Josh represents a "Volvo," and, rather despicably, "I just needed to be behind the wheel of a Volvo for a while." There is no honeymoon period. Instantly upon getting married, Nat seethes with resentment about toilet seats being left up and who takes out the trash. Before Nat and Josh reach their one-year anniversary, they are in couples counseling, a device used to frame the storyline. As artificial as the device is, Olivia Colman is hysterical as the embittered man-hating couples counselor.

Through her job, Nat meets Guy, another American, who is looking to re-brand his cleaning-products company. Guy is played by Simon Baker , who breezes through the film with the same ease and insistently romantic leading man energy that he brought to the wonderful and under-rated " Something New ." Nat does not inform Guy that she is married; in fact, she takes off her ring in his presence. She thinks flirting with him might help her nail the account, but also, the man is handsome, urbane and seems to "get" her. He's a Ferrari, in other words. Guy proceeds to court her in a ridiculous scene involving a wandering violin player, and two fluttering white doves who, unfortunately, are flying around in a room where there is a huge whirring ceiling fan. Disaster ensues. Guy and Nat begin a wild flirtation, and Josh and Chloe find themselves drawn to one another again. Nat and Josh decide to set up Guy and Chloe on a date, because that would be a good idea, right? The couples double-date, all while throwing longing glances diagonally across the pool table. 

The violins-and-doves scene, indeed the entire film, might have had potential, if the moviemakers had felt free to be truly silly. Silliness is not a bad thing. I wish more movies felt free to be silly. "I Give It a Year" wants to be silly, and the performances are often extremely silly, but it also wants to be touching, and that is its fatal flaw. The story is really akin to a French farce, with adulterous couples running in and out of rooms, slamming doors, mistaking identities left and right, and behaving horribly. Sentiment has no business intruding in such a brutal comedy of manners.

Despite all of the problems with the film, the cast is good, Anna Faris in particular. Anna Faris has the sensibility of a Madeline Kahn , whose ability to transform herself was directly related to her uncanny ability to understand the tragic/comedic underpinnings of almost everything she did. Faris is unrecognizable here, with long brown hair, and baggy clothing. She manages to bring a unique spin to what could have been a drippy character, the earnest do-gooder. Josh's sudden marriage sucks for her, but she does not think it good form to whine about it. She sits on her couch, wearing a Sponge Bob Squarepants bathrobe, trying to be a good sport as he tells her about his marriage. Faris is a character actress, end-stop, and her work is always interesting, exciting even.

Rafe Spall, who played the drunken Will Shakespeare in " Anonymous ," takes what is also a cliché (the useless husband who lies in the apartment all day), and does some interesting things with it. He is awkward; he has a way of muttering things to himself which reveal his real thoughts and then backtracking wildly when someone overhears. His sense of inferiority with his uptight in-laws is acute and causes him to behave like a blurting lunatic in their presence (one scene of charades is enough awkwardness to last a lifetime, not to mention a slideshow of photos that goes horribly, horribly wrong). It's difficult to believe that he is an author who has actually published a book. He doesn't seem to do anything, think anything, desire anything. Even his desire for Chloe is lukewarm. You get the sense that Chloe would be better off cutting herself loose from this entire crowd. She deserves better. So do we. 

Sheila O'Malley

Sheila O'Malley received a BFA in Theatre from the University of Rhode Island and a Master's in Acting from the Actors Studio MFA Program. Read her answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire here .

Now playing

In the Land of Saints and Sinners

Brian tallerico.

Dad & Step-Dad

Carlos aguilar.

Monica Castillo

Wicked Little Letters

Peyton Robinson

Film credits.

I Give It A Year (2013)

Anna Faris as Chloe

Rose Byrne as Nat

Rafe Spall as Josh

Jason Flemyng as Hugh

Stephen Merchant as Danny

Minnie Driver as Naomi

Olivia Colman as Linda

Jane Asher as Diana

Tim Key as Alan

Alex MacQueen as Minister

Simon Baker as Guy

Nigel Planer as Brian

Latest blog posts

Speed Kills: On the 25th Anniversary of Go

Joanna Arnow Made Her BDSM Comedy for You

The Movies That Underwent Major Changes After Their Festival Premiere

Netflix's Dead Boy Detectives Is A Spinoff Stuck In Limbo

• International edition
• Australia edition
• Europe edition

I Give It a Year – review

D an Mazer is the blackbelt comedy writer who worked with Sacha Baron Cohen on Ali G and Borat in their TV and movie incarnations. Now, as writer and director, he has been set the challenge of delivering a mainstream Anglo-Hollywood romantic comedy in the classic Curtis/Working Title manner. The result is funny and plausible, with a fair bit of newly modish Bridesmaids y 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. Rafe Spall and Rose Byrne are Josh and Nat, two intelligent and attractive people who got married way too quickly: their fundamental incompatibility is now agonisingly making itself plain, especially as they are clearly attracted to other people, namely Josh's old flame, Chloe (Anna Faris), and Nat's dishy American client, Guy (Simon Baker). Josh's embarrassing best mate (and indeed best man) is Danny, played by Stephen Merchant, whose comedy has a heavy Gervaisian residue at odds with the tone of the rest. There are plenty of laughs, especially from Olivia Colman as a marriage guidance counsellor who breaks off sessions to argue with her husband on her mobile.

• Comedy films
• Romance films

Comments (…)

Most viewed.

Common Sense Media

Movie & TV reviews for parents

• For Parents
• For Educators
• Our Work and Impact

Or browse by category:

• Get the app
• Movie Reviews
• Best Movie Lists
• Best Movies on Netflix, Disney+, and More

Common Sense Selections for Movies

50 Modern Movies All Kids Should Watch Before They're 12

• Best TV Lists
• Best TV Shows on Netflix, Disney+, and More
• Common Sense Selections for TV
• Video Reviews of TV Shows

Best Kids' Shows on Disney+

Best Kids' TV Shows on Netflix

• Book Reviews
• Best Book Lists
• Common Sense Selections for Books

8 Tips for Getting Kids Hooked on Books

50 Books All Kids Should Read Before They're 12

• Game Reviews
• Best Game Lists

Common Sense Selections for Games

• Video Reviews of Games

Nintendo Switch Games for Family Fun

• Podcast Reviews
• Best Podcast Lists

Common Sense Selections for Podcasts

Parents' Guide to Podcasts

• App Reviews
• Best App Lists

Social Networking for Teens

Gun-Free Action Game Apps

Reviews for AI Apps and Tools

• YouTube Channel Reviews
• YouTube Kids Channels by Topic

Parents' Ultimate Guide to YouTube Kids

YouTube Kids Channels for Gamers

• Preschoolers (2-4)
• Little Kids (5-7)
• Big Kids (8-9)
• Pre-Teens (10-12)
• Teens (13+)
• Screen Time
• Social Media
• Online Safety
• Identity and Community

Explaining the News to Our Kids

• Family Tech Planners
• Digital Skills
• All Articles
• Latino Culture
• Black Voices
• Asian Stories
• Native Narratives
• LGBTQ+ Pride
• Best of Diverse Representation List

Celebrating Black History Month

Movies and TV Shows with Arab Leads

Celebrate Hip-Hop's 50th Anniversary

I give it a year, common sense media reviewers.

Limp romcom has bickering couple, dreary image of marriage.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Marriage is hard work, and couples need to be comm

Nat and Josh leap into marriage after a whirlwind

Some bitter arguments.

Plenty of sexual innuendo, and one sequence of qui

Occasional profanity includes "f--k," &q

One character has a large Mac computer on her desk

Social drinking at parties, weddings, and meals. A

Parents need to know that I Give It a Year examines the realities of marriage, as newlyweds Nat (Rose Byrne) and Josh (Rafe Spall) discover all the little things about each other that drive them nuts. They bicker and then reconcile, but they're soon questioning whether they were too hasty in their rush to…

Positive Messages

Marriage is hard work, and couples need to be committed both to each other and to the reality that staying together is a choice. The film makes it clear that sticking together long after the honeymoon is over can be tough -- though it doesn't do much to show that there are also benefits from long-term relationships.

Positive Role Models

Nat and Josh leap into marriage after a whirlwind romance and slowly start to realize what it actually means to be with a partner forever. They love each other, but they're gradually falling out of love, and they make the mature decision to focus on the immediate goal of making it to their first anniversary. Still, they're also keeping their options open, since both are also flirting with other people, and it's not clear whether they're truly committed to the relationship.

Violence & Scariness

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Plenty of sexual innuendo, and one sequence of quite explicit photographs of a couple having sex, including a close-up of a penis. Women are sometimes seen in their underwear. A woman finds herself involved in a threesome, though the scene is more comical than erotic, and all the participants remain clothed. Some flirtatious banter between a married woman and a single man who's trying to seduce her.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Occasional profanity includes "f--k," "s--t," "crap" and a very unusual game of charades featuring a long stream of increasingly crass synonyms for "vagina."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

One character has a large Mac computer on her desk, visible in multiple scenes. Some people have iPhones.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Social drinking at parties, weddings, and meals. Adult characters sometimes get drunk and act silly.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that I Give It a Year examines the realities of marriage, as newlyweds Nat ( Rose Byrne ) and Josh ( Rafe Spall ) discover all the little things about each other that drive them nuts. They bicker and then reconcile, but they're soon questioning whether they were too hasty in their rush to the altar -- a plotline that may not have that much built-in appeal for teens. Several scenes have flirting and sexual innuendo, and there's a series of explicit homemade sex photos (including one that's a close-up of a penis). Expect social drinking by adults, sometimes to excess, and some swearing ("f--k," "s--t," etc.). To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Community Reviews

• Parents say (3)

Based on 3 parent reviews

Very funny but not for everyone

Avoid it like the plague, what's the story.

Nat ( Rose Byrne ) and Josh ( Rafe Spall ) meet cute, quickly fall hard for each other, and, seven months later, head for the altar. "I give it a year," says a good friend, and it's not long before the love-addled couple is bickering over the smallest of irritations and wondering why they ever thought a wedding was a good idea. It doesn't help that Nat is being pursued by a charming client ( Simon Baker ), while Josh is starting to spend time with his ex-girlfriend ( Anna Faris ). The couple sets up a simple goal: make it to their first anniversary. But it's unclear whether they'll actually get that far -- or, if they do, what will happen after that.

Is It Any Good?

I GIVE IT A YEAR paints a distressing picture of marriage. Nat and Josh bicker about small things amid frequent exasperated eye-rolling and snide remarks. Their friends are a Greek chorus describing the horrors of long-term relationships, and even their therapist advises them to throw in the towel. All that would be fine if it was told in an illuminating manner. But while viewers may appreciate the irreverence -- there are some jokes that are so true that they shoot like a dart right to the center of the board, eliciting big laughs -- the truth is that we don't get much real insight.

Why should Nat and Josh try to make it work? We don't really know, since we catch barely a glimpse of why they might care for each other. Their couplehood is a thinly drawn image teeming with negativity. She's cold; he's an unmotivated doofus. And they were never meant to be together, or so it seems. So why should the audience root for them to make it at all? Then there's Josh's ex-girlfriend and Nat's handsome client. Are they the couple's real soul mates? Or would divorce be a betrayal of the spirit of all romcoms? Do we care? With its schizophrenic tone and flimsy plot, I GIVE IT A YEAR feels as fragile as the marriage at its center. Strong performances unfortunately don't rescue it from a not-so-happily-ever-after.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about how the filmmakers depict marriage. Is it positively or negatively? What do the supporting characters tell us about long-term relationships?

Do you think Nat and Josh belong together? Why do they bicker? Should they fight harder for their relationship?

What role does sex play in the story? Parents, talk to your teens about your own values regarding sex and relationships.

Movie Details

• In theaters : August 9, 2013
• On DVD or streaming : October 22, 2013
• Cast : Anna Faris , Rafe Spall , Rose Byrne , Simon Baker
• Director : Dan Mazer
• Inclusion Information : Female actors
• Studio : Magnolia Pictures
• Genre : Romance
• Run time : 97 minutes
• MPAA rating : R
• MPAA explanation : sexual content, language and some graphic nudity
• Last updated : March 23, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Suggest an Update

Our editors recommend.

Crazy, Stupid, Love.

(500) Days of Summer

He's Just Not That Into You

Romance movies, romantic comedies.

Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

Log in or sign up for Rotten Tomatoes

Trouble logging in?

By continuing, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes.

Email not verified

Let's keep in touch.

Sign up for the Rotten Tomatoes newsletter to get weekly updates on:

• Upcoming Movies and TV shows
• Trivia & Rotten Tomatoes Podcast
• Media News + More

By clicking "Sign Me Up," you are agreeing to receive occasional emails and communications from Fandango Media (Fandango, Vudu, and Rotten Tomatoes) and consenting to Fandango's Privacy Policy and Terms and Policies . Please allow 10 business days for your account to reflect your preferences.

OK, got it!

Movies / TV

No results found.

• What's the Tomatometer®?
• Login/signup

Movies in theaters

• Opening this week
• Top box office
• Coming soon to theaters
• Certified fresh movies

Movies at home

• Fandango at Home
• Netflix streaming
• Prime Video
• Most popular streaming movies
• What to Watch New

Certified fresh picks

• Challengers Link to Challengers
• I Saw the TV Glow Link to I Saw the TV Glow
• Música Link to Música

New TV Tonight

• Dead Boy Detectives: Season 1
• The Jinx: Season 2
• The Big Door Prize: Season 2
• Them: Season 2
• Knuckles: Season 1
• Velma: Season 2
• Secrets of the Octopus: Season 1
• Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story: Season 1
• We're Here: Season 4

Most Popular TV on RT

• Baby Reindeer: Season 1
• Fallout: Season 1
• Shōgun: Season 1
• Ripley: Season 1
• Under the Bridge: Season 1
• 3 Body Problem: Season 1
• We Were the Lucky Ones: Season 1
• Best TV Shows
• Most Popular TV
• TV & Streaming News

Certified fresh pick

• Dead Boy Detectives: Season 1 Link to Dead Boy Detectives: Season 1
• All-Time Lists
• Binge Guide
• Comics on TV
• Five Favorite Films
• Video Interviews
• Weekend Box Office
• Weekly Ketchup
• What to Watch

All Zendaya Movies Ranked by Tomatometer

Video Game TV Shows Ranked by Tomatometer

What to Watch: In Theaters and On Streaming

Awards Tour

The Most Anticipated Movies of 2024

Poll: Most Anticipated Movies of May 2024

• Trending on RT
• Marvel Movies In Order
• Seen on Screen
• Most Anticipated Movies of May
• Play Movie Trivia

I Give It a Year Reviews

Only occasionally funny but mainly awkward with its quick and easy humour, I Give It A Year doesn't deliver the new style of British romantic comedy that we were waiting for.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/5 | Nov 26, 2019

I Give It a Year certainly doesn't give us its all.

Full Review | Aug 22, 2019

I Give It A Year may not be that "summer fun for the whole family" type of movie, but if you're looking to break the ice on a first date, I'd say it's the perfect film.

Full Review | Feb 9, 2019

Ultimately, these predictable events turn this ambitious attempt to breathe new life into an ailing genre into a familiar and rather disappointing comedy of errors.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Feb 9, 2019

I'm not usually a fan of awkward humour, and this film is filled with nothing but awkward humour.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/10 | Nov 1, 2018

There isn't a character here who resembles a real person you might care about.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Sep 1, 2017

It's a bit of a mainstream comedy, sure, and for that it sometimes feels slight or conventionally paced, but it's packed with more heart and perception than most, and it treats its characters as fully realized people.

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Mar 16, 2017

Any film that makes Rose Byrne unappealing has its head well and truly up its bum.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Jul 14, 2016

Clumsy and cute - that's my concise review of regular Sacha Baron Cohen collaborator Dan Mazer's directorial debut I Give It a Year.

Full Review | Original Score: C | Jun 29, 2016

As long as you can deal with romantic leads who are rather flawed and a more cynical tone than you may expect, you should find plenty to laugh about, offset with the odd grimace.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | May 24, 2016

It's funny, yes, but also depressing, like watching the mating habits of mollusks.

Full Review | Sep 26, 2013

"I Give It a Year" is a smart farce that would make Hugh Grant and his fans proud.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Sep 5, 2013

The big laughs compensate for the lack of a suitable emotional payoff.

Full Review | Aug 30, 2013

You might not want to stick by it in sickness and in health, 'til death do you part, but it's a reasonable enough companion for a night out at the cinema.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Aug 23, 2013

Mazer's previous onscreen experience is undeniably obvious. No penis is left unfilmed, no crude scene prevented from going on far too long.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Aug 23, 2013

Mazer, a Sacha Baron Cohen collaborator, directs this comedy without much snap, crackle or pop.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Aug 22, 2013

In addition to some trite set pieces, writer-director Dan Mazer serves up nothing more than conspicuous cynicism masquerading as comedy.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4 | Aug 15, 2013

The tonal clash is jarring, and Mazer doesn't help matters by erring on the side of blandness.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Aug 15, 2013

Can a comedy be too funny for its own good?

[VIDEO ESSAY] As a premise, a doomed marriage sounds like a no-brainer: you can pile on outrageous episodes of slapstick, physical comedy and biting wit. Unfortunately, "I Give It a Year" is a no-brainer.

Full Review | Original Score: C- | Aug 13, 2013

Advertisement

Supported by

Movie Review

Mismatch in Every Possible Way

• Share full article

By Jeannette Catsoulis

• Aug. 8, 2013

In “I Give It a Year,” a smutty script and a passel of objectionable characters form an imperfect rom-com union — one that will, with any luck, fade from the mind long before its title suggests.

Attempting to replicate the success, if not the warmth, of Britcoms like “Love, Actually” and “Notting Hill” — at one point, a character excitedly pronounces a particular scene as being “just like a Hugh Grant film” — this painfully awkward product fails on almost every level. Pairing a script by Dan Mazer, a writer on “Borat” and “Brüno,” with a genre more reliant on the warm and fuzzies than the cold and creepies proves disastrous (and explains the smut). And though Mr. Mazer, directing his first feature, laudably tries to upend a few made-for-each-other clichés, he constantly misjudges the balance between sharp edges and soft centers. His lovers don’t coo, they snipe.

And how. Skidding from nuptials to nastiness in a matter of months, Nat (Rose Byrne) and Josh (Rafe Spall) could not be more mismatched. She’s a put-together advertising type; he’s a slovenly writer given to inane jokes and tongue-tied gurgles in the presence of attractive women. Her parents play genteel games of charades; his are unable to go five minutes without groping each other. This inappropriateness is the film’s crass fuel, supplied most reliably by Stephen Merchant as Josh’s foul-mouthed best mate. And though Olivia Colman is wonderful as a bitter, batty counselor, and Minnie Driver’s tart tongue deserves a movie of its own, not even they can salvage this miscalculated marriage of cynicism and sentiment.

“I Give It a Year” is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). A terrible threesome, a flaccid full-frontal and embarrassingly indelicate in-laws.

Opens on Friday in New York and Los Angeles. Directed by Dan Mazer 1 hour 37 minutes

Explore More in TV and Movies

Not sure what to watch next we can help..

Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell speak about how “Anyone but You” beat the rom-com odds. Here are their takeaways after the film , debuting on Netflix, went from box office miss to runaway hit.

The vampire ballerina in the new movie “Abigail” has a long pop culture lineage . She and her sisters are obsessed, tormented and likely to cause harm.

In a joint interview, the actors Lily Gladstone and Riley Keough discuss “Under the Bridge,” their new true-crime series  based on a teenager’s brutal killing in British Columbia.

The movie “Civil War” has tapped into a dark set of national angst . In polls and in interviews, a segment of voters say they fear the country’s divides may lead to actual, not just rhetorical, battles.

If you are overwhelmed by the endless options, don’t despair — we put together the best offerings   on Netflix , Max , Disney+ , Amazon Prime  and Hulu  to make choosing your next binge a little easier.

Sign up for our Watching newsletter  to get recommendations on the best films and TV shows to stream and watch, delivered to your inbox.

I GIVE IT A YEAR Review

I Give It a Year review. Matt reviews Dan Mazer's I Give It a Year starring Rose Byrne, Rafe Spall, Anna Faris, Simon Baker, and Stephen Merchant.

[ This is a re-post of my review from the 2013 SXSW Film Festival.  I Give It a Year opens tomorrow in limited release. ]

Dan Mazer 's I Give It a Year is the rom-com in reverse and two rom-coms in one. Mazer takes the difficult task of showing a marriage fall apart, and turns it into a surprisingly funny and witty comedy that never feels cynical. And it's absolutely easy to be cynical when it comes to marriage because of the 50% divorce rate. But like any good comic writer, Mazer finds the humor in an unlikely topic, and succeeds with sharp dialogue, talented actors, and wisely keeping the tone of the film the same as an average romantic comedy.

The wedding of Josh ( Rafe Spall ) and Nat ( Rose Byrne ) starts with a bad omen as the priest has a coughing fit when trying to pronounce, "Husband and wife." From there, we cut forward nine months to the couple seeing a marriage counselor ( Olivia Colman ) to try and figure out how it all went wrong, and if they can salvage their union. Mazer then brings us back to show how the marriage quickly became a series of small battles, resentments, and how opposites may attract, but that doesn't mean they'll stay attracted. Nat's eye starts wandering to her handsome, debonair marketing client Guy ( Simon Baker ) while Josh's feelings for his friend/former-girlfriend Chloe ( Anna Faris ) begin to resurface.

I Give It a Year is extremely British in its comic sensibilities. There are plenty of awkward moments mediated by quick-witted responses, some farcical elements, and a comedy of manners. There are some scenes that probably could have been dropped like Chloe trying to engage in and then extricate herself from a threesome (although the gifted Faris does manage to get laughs from the situation), but most of the movie brings us back around to the honest conflict between Josh and Nat. They know they got married too quickly, they're wrong for each other, and they don't want to end up like their bitter married friends Naomi ( Minnie Driver ) and Hugh ( Jason Flemyng ). Josh and Nat's predicament is made worse by the fact that they're being drawn to other people.

For the audience, this removes the stakes, but leaves us wondering how Mazer can possibly find a happy ending in divorce. No one is really a fan of divorce. We don't have divorce parties (although at the 50% divorce rate, it could be a burgeoning industry) and Hallmark hasn't gotten around to making "Happy Divorce!" cards. Although the marriage in I Give It a Year has been given the a ridiculously easiest out (their true loves are standing by the exit), Mazer makes sure no one is the villain. Josh does end up more on the bumbling and embarrassing side while Nat is slightly duplicitous and openly hostile, but she's also being wooed by the gorgeous Simon Baker. At one point, even Josh says to Guy, "I could eat you up with a spoon."

The film is packed with great one-liners, but never gets bogged down in going for one more joke at the expense of moving the story forward. Mazer knows how to best utilize the comic talents of his cast without letting them slow down the plot (yes, I am taking jabs Judd Apatow movies). Stephen Merchant , who plays Josh's friend Dan, could riff through the entire movie saying horribly offensive and inappropriate things, but Mazer keeps the role small, which makes Merchant's performance even more valuable. The same goes for Colman, who continues to amaze me in every movie she does. I knew she could do broad comedy because of Hot Fuzz , but she's even better here (this isn't to mention her scene-stealing performance in Hyde Park on Hudson and her devastating dramatic work in Tyrannosaur ). All four leads are terrific (although Baker is the odd-man out since the script doesn't give him any comic material), and Mazer makes sure the movie is about their story rather than simply milking side characters and set-ups until they're exhausted.

Being in the rom-com genre is the biggest strength and biggest weakness of I Give It a Year . It keeps the warm, fuzzy, and safe feeling the romantic comedy provides, so it's not really subverting the genre as much as it's giving it a fresh spin. Mazer manages to find the warmth and comedy in undoing a marriage, so this isn't Blue Valentine but with more vagina jokes. But if divorce is becoming the norm and losing its social stigma, then I Give It a Year decides that maybe we should stop bemoaning the death of marriage and start telling jokes at the wake.

Den of Geek

I Give It A Year review

From the writer of Borat comes a UK rom-com starring Rafe Spall and Rose Byrne that's much funnier than it is romantic...

• Share on Facebook (opens in a new tab)
• Share on Twitter (opens in a new tab)
• Share on Linkedin (opens in a new tab)
• Share on email (opens in a new tab)

When it’s not making you laugh, Dan Mazer’s I Give It a Year isn’t doing much else. By design, the central relationship’s not one to root for, and the film’s love quadrilateral barely leaves an impression once you’ve left the cinema. It’s good news for Mazer’s film then, that it’s very funny.

Since Hugh Grant quoted David Cassidy at a bemused Andi MacDowell in 1994, UK wedding comedies have become an institution to rival marriage itself. Aptly, in a week that’s seen marriage conventions on their way to a long-overdue update, along comes a film to shake up the rom-com in turn.

Instead of watching Josh (Rafe Spall) and Nat (Rose Byrne) follow a twisty, misunderstanding and obstacle-strewn path to their eventual union, we’re there to witness their relationship fall apart. Moreover, we’re willing it to happen, like the snide friends and relatives behind the film’s titular prophesy.

Josh and Nat don’t work as a couple, and Mazer’s film uses their incompatibility as the backdrop to a series of very funny, recognisable sketches about couples that don’t work.

Ad – content continues below

The film is less insightful on couples that do work, crayoning a couple of blurry outlines for Josh and Nat’s respective dream partners – a frumpy-ish charity worker (Anna Faris) and a hunky patrician millionaire (Simon Baker) – then signalling their suitability for the newlyweds with the nuance of a flag semaphorist on a sinking ship.

Luckily, Faris and Baker are naturally likeable on screen, while Byrne and Spall are enormous fun as the romantically divided leads. Spall has emerged from the cinematic side lines as a bona fide charmer, proving himself especially well-suited to awkward comedy in a posh lingerie shop scene and a couple of reputation-destroying encounters with Nat’s uptight family. Byrne too – who perhaps didn’t receive the attention she deserved next to Kristen Wiig and Melissa McCarthy for her excellent comic performance in Bridesmaids – is a real asset to the film, and more than capable of delivering a timely punch line.

Some of the film’s funniest moments, it should be said, belong to the bit characters. Stephen Merchant is hugely enjoyable as Josh’s regrettable best friend, as are Tim Key and Olivia Colman as the solicitor who draws up the couple’s living will and their less-then-ideal marriage counsellor. It’s Nat’s caustic sister (Minnie Driver) who delivers the “I give it a year” dark-fairy-at-the-christening curse, and she too receives her share of nicely naughty lines.

One or two of the film’s gags outstay their welcome, lingering to plump up the 97-minute runtime, but nothing grates. The litany of Josh and Nat’s relationship niggles is well observed stuff and sure to inspire more than a few knowing nods from the audience.

On the promotional circuit for I Give It a Year , writer/director Mazer ( Bruno, Borat, Ali G Indahouse ) said he wasn’t aiming to pull at the heartstrings, making the film’s lack of romance less of a misfire. If he set out to invert a few generic conventions and tell some good gags along the way, then there’s no failure here. So what if the ‘rom’ is sacrificed for the sake of the ‘com’? If you have to choose, I know that’s the way around I’d have it.

Follow our  Twitter feed for faster news and bad jokes right here . And be our  Facebook chum here .

Louisa Mellor | @Louisa_Mellor

Louisa Mellor is the Den of Geek UK TV Editor. She has written about TV, film and books for Den of Geek since 2010, and for…

‘I Give It a Year’ Review

• Share on Facebook
• Share on Twitter

What happens at the end of a romantic comedy? After the whirlwind romance and the big proposal, do the characters live happily ever after? Not so, says 'I Give It a Year,' a British flick that seeks to flip the rom-com formula on its head.

Nat ( Rose Byrne ) and Josh (Rafe Spall) are a newly married couple who wed after only seven months of courtship. Their friends and family know they aren't right for each other: Nat is tightly wound and proper, while Josh is a regressive man-child, the kind you might find in a Judd Apatow film. In the nine months that follow, the pair quickly realize that something just isn't clicking -- they are fond of each other, but they lack the chemistry necessary to sustain the relationship, and being British, both of them are too polite to end it.

What starts out as seemingly typical rom-com fare evolves into something sharper, with a little bite courtesy of writer/director Dan Mazer, who wrote screenplays for Sacha Baron Cohen 's 'Bruno' and 'Borat' movies. And the involvement of Stephen Merchant as Josh's oblivious and obnoxious friend certainly informs the audience that this isn't your typical touchy-feely flick. Byrne and Spall are equally game for hilarious comic hijinks -- Byrne in particular is continuing to show off her comedic chops following the success of 'Bridesmaids,' and it's nice to see her flex those muscles yet again, albeit in a similar, snobby role.

'I Give It a Year' also stars Anna Faris and Simon Baker as the romantic bait luring our main couple away from each other and helping them realize that there are other, more compatible people out there for them. Faris gives a more restrained performance than her usual fare, which suits her well, though she isn't completely removed from wackiness, as evidenced by one of the most cringe-inducing and awkward threesome scenes ever filmed (unless you count home video, as I'm sure there are much more cringe-inducing and awkward threesome scenes lurking in the closets of wannabe adventurous couples). The peripheral characters are also delightfully wacky, like Minnie Driver 's cynical sister-in-law, who is constantly belittling her husband and fantasizes about sex with much younger men -- and it provides the opportunity for a typically serious Driver to exclaim, "I would ruin [Justin] Bieber!"

The film, while elevated by crude, biting humor and a solid cast, isn't all chuckles though. 'I Give It a Year' is a fine exploration of the way people rush to commit to one another without getting to know each other first. It also highlights the ways in which couples often stay together because they don't want to hurt each other. So often in romantic comedies we have clear protagonists and antagonists -- a nice, good-hearted woman and the man who cheats on her and breaks her heart, or the do-gooder guy and the woman who beats his heart to a pulp -- but in 'I Give It a Year' there are only shades of gray because Mazer is aware that people are complex. Nat seems more inclined to break Josh's heart than the other way around, but Josh is just as capable of making mistakes and using bad judgment as she is.

It's a bit of a mainstream comedy, sure, and for that it sometimes feels slight or conventionally paced, but it's packed with more heart and perception than most, and it treats its characters as fully realized people rather than one-dimensional sentiments dressed in human clothes.

'Give It a Year' premiered in the US at the 2013 SXSW Film Festival. 

More From ScreenCrush

The Definitive Voice of Entertainment News

Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter

site categories

I give it a year: film review.

Rose Byrne and Rafe Spall star as mismatched newlyweds in the directing debut of Sacha Baron Cohen’s frequent comic collaborator Dan Mazer.

By Megan Lehmann

Megan Lehmann

• Share this article on Facebook
• Share this article on Twitter
• Share this article on Flipboard
• Share this article on Email
• Show additional share options
• Share this article on Linkedin
• Share this article on Pinit
• Share this article on Reddit
• Share this article on Tumblr
• Share this article on Whatsapp
• Share this article on Print
• Share this article on Comment

Snarkier than your average Hollywood romantic comedy, the fitfully hilarious British outing I Give It a Year seeks to slice up happily-ever-after tropes with a hacksaw. It winds up rather inelegantly shoehorning salty humor and abrasive sentiment into a genre template, but an above-average number of laugh-out-loud set pieces compensate for the resulting wobbly narrative. The film is set to sustain a solid run in the UK, where it was released to take advantage of Valentine’s Day, and its future overseas looks bright, if somewhat limited by two untested leads.

Ushering the ferociously cynical Dan Mazer (responsible for the Borat and Bruno screenplays) into the cozily smug stable of U.K. rom-com standard-bearer Working Title (home to Richard Curtis and Hugh Grant ) was bound to result in a union as knotty as that of the film’s incompatible newlywed protagonists.

Related Stories

Korean rock group the rose on coachella debut, new fragrance and their next album, king charles to resume royal duties after cancer diagnosis.

PHOTOS: Hugh Grant and 12 of Hollywood’s Most Memorable Mea Culpas

They are Nat ( Rose Byrne ) and Josh ( Rafe Spall ), a comely couple whose fairy-tale wedding kicks off the film at the point credits are rolling on most rom-coms. There are perfectly arranged posies and sparkly musical montages, but reactions are mixed: “It’s just like a Hugh Grant film,” sighs one of Nat’s co-workers, while Nat’s sister (a deliciously caustic Minnie Driver ) doesn’t even exit the church before delivering the prediction of the title.

Sure enough, within months, Nat and Josh are seeing a couple’s counselor. It’s clear the pin-thin, high maintenance advertising executive and the emotionally stunted, layabout writer are woefully unsuited and that Mazer is subverting the boy-meets-girl formula so that it plays in reverse.

It’s the opposite of uplifting and it’s no surprise the writer-director fails to find much to warm the cockles in the marriage’s disintegration. Mazer does manage to jam in a hearty helping of outrageously funny situations and, like his Sacha Baron Cohen collaborations, the gags are stronger than the story. They also have a decidedly bitter, if not downright nasty, edge.

The supporting cast hogs all the best scenes, which often play like discrete comedy sketches. Bug-eyed Brit comic Stephen Merchant , Ricky Gervais ’ long-time partner in comedy crime, does a fine line in toxic inappropriateness as Josh’s obnoxious best man. Olivia Colman ( Peep Show ) is comic perfection as the couple’s unhinged counselor, wielding anatomically correct dolls like weapons. And there’s an entire scene written around Tim Key’s droll turn as a life insurance salesman.

STORY: Rose Byrne, Anna Faris to Shoot Dan Mazer’s ‘I Give It a Year’ in London

None of the characters even approaches likable. But Mazer’s rom-com revolt goes only so far and someone somewhere has to fall in love.

Enter an impossibly smooth Simon Baker (the Australian actor best known for The Mentalist ) as wealthy American Guy, who brings his business and his romantic A-game to Nat’s ad agency. Josh is oblivious to their growing attraction as he is spending more and more time with his ex-girlfriend Chloe ( Anna Faris in a long brown wig), a frumpy aid worker who is almost painfully anti-fashion.

Faris is an unusual choice for the role, but earns her keep with a screwball sex scene involving the most awkward threesome committed to film. Aussie actress Byrne shows off fine comic chops, proving her Bridesmaids success was no fluke, but Spall ( Life of Pi) leaves his leading man stuck in first gear as a charmless blockhead.

Ben Davis’ lensing lends a Curtis-like spangle to the London locations and the soundtrack features an appealing assortment of laid-back indie tunes, including a lovely trance mix of “Don’t Dream It’s Over” by LoLo. Erratic editing and a mess of an ending (we’re spared the meet-cute only to get a hastily arranged “part-cute”) undercut what little flow there is to this tart-tongued, emotionally aloof anti-romance.

Opens: Australia, Feb. 28

Production company: Working Title, StudioCanal, Translux

Cast: Rose Byrne, Rafe Spall, Simon Baker, Anna Faris, Stephen Merchant, Minnie Driver

Writer-director: Dan Mazer

Producers: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Kris Thykier

Executive producers: Debra Hayward, Liza Chasin, Olivier Courson, Ron Halpern

Co-producer: Jane Hooks

Director of photography: Ben Davis

Production designer: Simon Elliott

Costume designer: Charlotte Walter

Music: Ilan Eshkeri

Editor: Tony Cranstoun

Sales: StudioCanal, Paris

No rating, 102 minutes

THR Newsletters

Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day

More from The Hollywood Reporter

Ray chan, art director and production designer for marvel films, dies at 56, box office: zendaya’s ‘challengers’ serving up $14m-$15m opening for no. 1 finish, pauly shore says he “was up all night crying” after richard simmons blasted biopic, ethan hawke shares denzel washington’s advice on winning an oscar, ‘kraven the hunter,’ ‘karate kid’ pushed back by sony, hot docs festival: middle eastern films get spotlight amid israel-hamas war.

I Give It A Year Review

08 Feb 2013

I Give It A Year

Since Hugh Grant hit his fifties and starting spending more time verbally castrating gutter journalists than charming American women, Working Title, the standard bearer for British romantic comedy, has been casting around for a new poster boy. It is now the turn of Rafe Spall, an actor who has more frequently been called on to be silly in supporting roles (excepting Life Of Pi). Trimmed down and smartened up, Spall doesn’t acquit himself badly at all, albeit playing a character who’s difficult to love. Almost every character here is difficult to love.

I Give It A Year boasts a ripe pitch — should a quickly married couple (Spall and Rose Byrne) stick or twist if it’s not working out? — and Dan Mazer, writer for Sacha Baron Cohen, has written a funny, pithy script. There are strong laughs throughout, particularly from Stephen Merchant as Josh’s ferociously inappropriate best friend and Minnie Driver as Nat’s caustic sister. The ‘com’ part is covered. It’s the ‘rom’ bit that’s the issue.

For Nat and Josh’s relationship to be interesting there needs to be some kind of pull, however weak, keeping them together. Yet they seem so bored with each other, the sort of couple you dread being stuck with. There’s little coming from their alternative partners, too. Simon Baker oozes through his scenes as a smarmy client trying to make his time with public relations exec Nat much more private, and Anna Faris is lovely but miscast as an earthy charity worker who left her relationship with Josh unresolved. We need that one scene showing each couple as blissfully perfect for each other — the heart-stopper. But the heart remains resolutely unfluttered.

Related Articles

Movies | 04 02 2013

Movies | 01 02 2013

Movies | 14 12 2012

• Become a Critical Movie Critic
• Movie Review Archives

Movie Review: I Give It a Year (2013)

• Amy Bigmore
• Movie Reviews
• 4 responses
• --> February 8, 2013

Love. Ain’t it grand?

With Rose Byrne cast yet again in the role of uptight pretty girl and a premise involving marriage, audiences could be forgiven for thinking that writer/director Dan Mazer’s new film, I Give It a Year , was going to be another “ Bridesmaids ”-like comedy. Alas it is not (sadly), it’s more of a Frankenstein of genres — a mishmash of drama, comedy and romance elements — no one really standing out or being particularly strong, all meshing together just well enough to be considered watchable.

It begins with an almost ironic depiction of head-over-heels in love couple Nat (Byrne) and Josh’s (Rafe Spall, “ Prometheus ”) sickly sweet whirlwind romance that culminates in the happiest day of their lives: Their wedding (literally, as it all appears to go down-hill from that point onwards).

Oddly (or perhaps clichéd), once they are married, viewers, like Josh, find out that Nat is not the sweet light-hearted girl portrayed in the beginning but in fact the complete opposite — she’s a head-strong girl who takes life far too seriously and is completely unsuited to Josh’s laid-back goofball persona. Not convinced they’ll last the year (hence the movie title), they begin taking marriage guidance from a clearly insane counselor named Linda (Olivia Colman, “ Tyrannosaur ”). A series of flashbacks are employed to let us know how the couple had reached this rocky precipice.

Byrne appears to have found her comedic niche playing unlikeable pretty girls, however, Nat is nowhere near as enjoyable a persona as Byrne’s past successes. Nat lacks any sense of humor and possesses very little warmth which is why it’s hard to believe when Nat’s new client Guy (Simon Baker, “ Margin Call ”) over hears her bitching about him in a sushi bar and decides that she’s the one for him and begins ardently pursuing her. And whilst Nat is busy fending off the relentless come-on’s from Guy, Josh rediscovers a torch he once held for his aid-worker ex, Chloe (Anna Faris, “ Movie 43 ”). Attractions begin to develop between Nat and Guy, and Josh and Chloe and I Give It a Year becomes a farce about deciding whether unfaithful lusting is more important than sacred marriage vows.

Best bud advice.

Starting the movie from where most rom-com narratives finish was an interesting idea as it gave writer/director Dan Mazer, who has in the past collaborated with Sacha Baron Cohen on films like “ Brüno ” and “ Borat ”, an opportunity to impress upon the uglier underbelly of marriages. Unfortunately, he relies too heavily on Josh’s asshole friend Danny (Stephen Merchant, “ Hall Pass ”) to deliver the film’s avalanche of nonpolitically-correct humor.

Interestingly, the real comedy frontrunner of I Give It a Year is Rafe Spall. Previously forgettable in many of his past films, he manages to demonstrate a relaxed, natural comic delivery necessary for his character to remain likable even under the dumbest of circumstances. The movie would have been suited better though, had Byrne and Faris, both of whom have proven comedic capabilities, been given more spotlight in their straight-woman roles.

So if “just watchable” is in the cards, I Give It a Year is a good cinema choice. But with its accomplished actors and a writer who knows how to push the boundaries in outlandish ways, I Give It a Year should have been a “must see.”

Tagged: counseling , marriage , newlywed

Yes it is me. Were you expecting someone else?

Movie Review: Revolution: New Art for a New World (2016) Movie Review: Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015) Movie Review: San Andreas (2015) Movie Review: Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends (2014) Movie Review: The Tale of The Princess Kaguya (2013) Movie Review: Run All Night (2015) Movie Review: The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2015)

'Movie Review: I Give It a Year (2013)' have 4 comments

February 8, 2013 @ 5:50 pm clawdeen

Guess I shouldn’t be too upset that there doesn’t appear to be a US release planned….

Log in to Reply

February 8, 2013 @ 9:18 pm Edge

Sounds skin-crawlingly contrived.

February 14, 2013 @ 2:08 pm PayTron

I give it a week at the cinema before its pulled.

August 11, 2013 @ 10:52 am Hoses

Privacy Policy | About Us

 |  Log in

Awesome, you're subscribed!

Thanks for subscribing! Look out for your first newsletter in your inbox soon!

The best things in life are free.

Sign up for our email to enjoy your city without spending a thing (as well as some options when you’re feeling flush).

Déjà vu! We already have this email. Try another?

By entering your email address you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and consent to receive emails from Time Out about news, events, offers and partner promotions.

Love the mag?

Our newsletter hand-delivers the best bits to your inbox. Sign up to unlock our digital magazines and also receive the latest news, events, offers and partner promotions.

• Things to Do
• Food & Drink
• Arts & Culture
• Time Out Market
• Coca-Cola Foodmarks
• Los Angeles

Get us in your inbox

🙌 Awesome, you're subscribed!

I Give It a Year: movie review

Time Out says

“Oh, it’s just like a Hugh Grant film!” squeals one character in writer-director David Mazer’s debut feature, inadvertently summing up the split-personality vibe that characterizes this venal attempt at a pomo rom-com. We’re supposed to wink knowingly as Nat (Rose Byrne) and Josh (Rafe Spall) meet under a cascade of literal fireworks and make mutual goo-goo eyes during a prematrimony montage, yet genuinely worry about them when the couple ends up in counseling several months down the line. We’re continually nudged toward thinking the film resembles a you-know-who star vehicle from the ’90s, complete with a bumbling, stammering, handsome Brit lead ( Year ’s production company, Working Title Films, is in fact best known for giving us Four Weddings and a Funeral ), while every other character revels in the sort of gratuitously nasty cringe comedy one associates with the here and now. It wants fans of the genre to have their cake while calling them the c-word, too.

Only nothing works: not the haphazard stabs at conjuring a sweet-and-sour comic tone, not the reliance on people saying horribly inappropriate things in lieu of actual jokes, and not the one-note characters that waste the talent of poor Anna Faris and Simon Baker (whose handsome mogul might as well be named Tempty T. Temptation). Such manic fumblings and desperate crassness might be more forgivable were any of it actually, y’know, funny, but other than Olivia Colman’s occasional cameos as a raging therapist, the laughs have been granted a leave of absence. Life is too short to be with the wrong person, the film tells us, but what it’s really saying is that life is too short to waste on bad movies. Don’t even give it 97 minutes.

Follow David Fear on Twitter: @davidlfear

Release Details

• Release date: Tuesday 5 February 2013
• Duration: 97 mins

Cast and crew

• Director: Dan Mazer
• Screenwriter: Dan Mazer
• Stephen Merchant
• Minnie Driver
• Simon Baker

An email you’ll actually love

Discover Time Out original video

• Press office
• Investor relations
• Work for Time Out
• Editorial guidelines
• Privacy notice
• Do not sell my information
• Cookie policy
• Accessibility statement
• Terms of use
• Modern slavery statement
• Manage cookies
• Advertising

Time Out Worldwide

• All Time Out Locations
• North America
• South America
• South Pacific

• Skip to main content
• Keyboard shortcuts for audio player

Movie Reviews

For two mismatched newlyweds, a very odd 'year'.

Ella Taylor

The typical romantic comedy might end with the wedding, but for Josh (Rafe Spall) and Nat (Rose Byrne), that's just the beginning of the story of I Give It a Year. Jules Heath/Magnolia hide caption

The typical romantic comedy might end with the wedding, but for Josh (Rafe Spall) and Nat (Rose Byrne), that's just the beginning of the story of I Give It a Year.

I Give It A Year

• Director: Dan Mazer
• Genre: Comedy, Romance
• Running Time: 97 minutes

Rated R for sexual content, language and some graphic nudity

With Rose Byrne, Rafe Spall, Alex Macqueen

I Give It a Year is about what you'd expect from the warped mind of Dan Mazer — Sacha Baron Cohen's close collaborator on Da Ali G Show­, Borat and Bruno . Which is to say: a raucously funny comic romance that's deaf and blind to the blithe spirit of romantic comedy.

It's not as though Mazer isn't reaching for something a little more grown-up and sweet with his first feature as writer-director. Yet it's hard to know what to make of this ungainly creature, which drifts along making semi-serious gestures toward comedy of manners while excreting regular pellets of bad taste along the way.

I Give It a Year begins where most rom-coms wrap, with a wedding — this one between Nat (Rose Byrne), a neurotically efficient ad executive, and Josh (Rafe Spall), a dreamy writer with few administrative and fewer social skills.

But if this setup promises a new spin on a tired premise, it also boxes in the plot, limiting the outcome to one of two options: Either Josh and Nat's union will head south, as family and friends all too frequently predict, or they'll go the opposites-attract route and discover they were made for each other.

In addition to their own doubts and dubiosity, Josh and Nat's marriage faces an external challenge or two in the persons of Nat's smooth-talking repeat flirtation (Simon Baker) and Josh's agreeably sensible ex (Anna Farris). Giles Keyte/Magnolia hide caption

In addition to their own doubts and dubiosity, Josh and Nat's marriage faces an external challenge or two in the persons of Nat's smooth-talking repeat flirtation (Simon Baker) and Josh's agreeably sensible ex (Anna Farris).

There's never enough meat on the movie's bones to make us care, alas. For starters, the casting is downright schizoid: Byrne, who showed a natural gift for uptight screwball as Kristen Wiig's rival in Bridesmaids , is pretty dandy here too. And Simon Baker is all of a piece as the Lothario who pursues Nat with polished ferocity, never letting on that he sees her furtively remove her wedding band whenever they meet.

But who in his right mind would waste the cracked charms of the great Anna Faris ( The House Bunny ) in the part of Chloe, the sensible, slightly dumpy ex-girlfriend to whom Josh's eyes keep swiveling.

Mazer doesn't seem terribly invested in the clumsy dance among these four, or in the outcome of their feeble passions. The pacing is sluggish, and the soundtrack does little to support it aside from a few hastily jammed-in snatches of pop. Much footage is wasted on the irritating habits of partners in a 9-month marriage that feels decades older — and not only to the unhappy couple.

Absent an idea about where all this hand-wringing is going or why, Mazer keeps falling back on his prodigious gifts as a sketch-comedy writer. And if you're into British raunch — why is it that American Anglophiles insist on seeing the English as exemplars of polite company? — these bits of business will strike you as raucously funny.

Certainly they give a bunch of character actors their moments in the sun. Minnie Driver is wonderfully acidic as Nat's best friend, a cynic about marriage who nonetheless hangs in for the long haul. The versatile Olivia Colman, a prim Elizabeth, the British queen consort, in Hyde Park on Hudson and pathetically henpecked as Margaret Thatcher's daughter in The Iron Lady , comes wonderfully unhinged as Nat and Josh's therapist. And comedian Stephen Merchant is a stitch as their compulsively inappropriate best man.

But the best that can be said for this brave but misbegotten movie is that it gives good standup. Whatever attachment we might form for the characters or their fates gets lost in thickets of farce and barrages of one-liners. As clever as they are, they sink what might have been a fresh take on the mystery of what it takes to stay the course of love.

Several edging-up-to-Christmas scenes in I Give It a Year made me wonder if the distributors were so flummoxed about how and when to release this strangely discordant little number that they threw up their hands and dumped it in August, there to be swallowed alive by the season's blockbusters. I give it a week.

Flickering Myth

Geek Culture | Movies, TV, Comic Books & Video Games

Movie Review – I Give It a Year (2013)

February 16, 2013 by admin

I Give It a Year , 2013.

Written and Directed by Dan Mazer. Starring Rose Byrne, Rafe Spall, Anna Farris, Simon Baker, Minnie Driver, Stephen Merchant and Olivia Coleman.

Dan Mazer’s Brit rom-com examines the various trials and tribulations of newlyweds Nat and Josh in their first year of marriage.

You wouldn’t expect the producer behind Borat and Ali G to delve into the rom-com genre but Mazer steps into the role with ease and delivers a hilarious comedy. I Give It a Year charts the dysfunctional first year of Nat (Rose Byrne) and Josh’s (Rafe Spall) mismatched marriage. You only see glimpses of the couple’s courtship, before you’re at the wedding listening to a supremely awkward best man’s speech (delivered by the film’s true star Stephen Merchant) and the next thing you know it’s 9 months later and the two are in couples counselling. From the outset Mazer inverts our expectations and confirms that this won’t be a traditional romantic comedy.

I Give It a Year truly exceeds in the comedy side of things with a multitude of laugh out loud moments littered throughout. Most of the laughs are provided by the supporting cast consisting of inappropriate best friend Danny (Merchant), a wildly unhinged therapist (Coleman) and Nat’s malicious sister played expertly by Driver. By littering the film with these three characters, Mazer ensures that the laughs keep coming. Spall has some great moments throughout – his Beyonce dance is unmissable – but the central relationship is uncomfortable to watch and only goes to emphasise that Mazer has focused on comedy more than romance.

If you want to go see a film and be heartwarmed then this isn’t the right one. Whilst the laughs come thick and fast, there’s no emotional centre and Nat and Josh’s relationship is almost painful to watch at times. Their potential partners (Anna Farris and Simon Baker) do their best to ignite the romance but they’re largely underused. Farris gets her shining moment during an awkward sequence, which proves how far she’s come since the days of Scary Movie . Baker on the other hand is largely one dimensional and isn’t given the screen time to develop his character.

At the centre of this unconventional “romance” is Rafe Spall and Rose Byrne. Rafe Spall excels in the role and makes his character Josh loveable, charming, and goofy at the same time. In comparison Rose Byrne’s character Nat is annoying and has seemingly no redeeming features whatsoever. The audience get the sense from the beginning that these two are in for a rough ride, with Nat being annoyed at Josh for not emptying the bin, leaving the loo lid up, not working and so on. All of these issues make her character appear trivial and even in the film’s resolution it’s difficult to warm to her at all.

I Give It a Year hasn’t reinvented the British rom-com but it’s definitely a start. What it lacks in heart is made up for in comedy. Hopefully someone will take this formula, add a bit of romance in there and they’re set for a winning combination.

Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★   / Movie: ★ ★ ★ 

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE:

The Most Overhated Modern Superhero Movies

Demonic horror movies to send shivers down your spine, the essential 80s action movies, 10 essential 80s vampire movies you might have missed.

Cannon’s Avengers: What If… Cannon Films Did the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

Who is the Best Final Girl in Horror?

Insane Horror Movies You Need To See

The Essential Horror-Comedies of the 21st Century

The B-Movie Queens

Ranking Every Friday the 13th Movie From Worst to Best

• Comic Books
• Video Games
• Toys & Collectibles
• Articles and Opinions
• About Flickering Myth
• Write for Flickering Myth
• Advertise on Flickering Myth
• Terms of Use
• Privacy Policy

clock This article was published more than  10 years ago

‘I Give It a Year’ movie review

So many films end with a wedding that it seems like a fresh idea to start a movie with one, especially a union that doesn't guarantee a happily ever after. But the British film " I Give It a Year " doesn't deliver much else in the way of originality. In addition to some trite set pieces, writer-director Dan Mazer serves up nothing more than conspicuous cynicism masquerading as comedy.

As the opening credits roll, Josh (Rafe Spall) meets and woos Nat (Rose Byrne). Their seven-month courtship leads to a wedding that nearly everyone thinks is too soon. Nat’s sister, Naomi (Minnie Driver), is a chronic killjoy, but you have to admit she has a point when she utters the line that gives the film its title, and during the ceremony, no less.

That the officiant bursts into a coughing spasm just as he’s about to pronounce the pair husband and wife foreshadows the difficulties to come. But a terrible best-man speech — that old chestnut — not to mention the declaration by Josh’s parents that the first year of marriage is a nightmare, broadcasts a decisive forecast: The honeymoon is over, and it hasn’t even begun.

The biggest problem turns out to be that Nat and Josh don’t like each other. It’s easy to see why, given that neither party is particularly pleasant. Nat is uptight and gloomy, and Josh is a lazy numskull whose career as a novelist consists mostly of sitting on the couch. Another complication emerges as more suitable partners appear for both husband and wife. Josh has the same childish sense of humor as his ex-girlfriend, Chloe (a brunette Anna Faris), who returns to London from Africa just in time for the wedding. And Nat’s new client, Guy (Simon Baker), is dashing and painfully serious. What’s more, Guy wants to be with Nat, and Chloe still loves Josh.

As their emotional affairs heat up, Nat and Josh become increasingly mean and easily exasperated by all the things you might expect. Nat realizes her husband might be incapable of replacing toilet paper rolls and taking out the trash. And Josh finds his wife’s habit of singing along to songs, even though she doesn’t know the words, grating. There is not one reasonable person in this movie’s world who can offer some perspective on how to treat a person, much less a spouse. Instead, Josh and Nat confer with an incompetent marriage counselor, who pauses their session to take a phone call during which she threatens to stab her husband in the eye, and the surly Naomi, who tells Nat to “embrace the hatred.”

As the movie tries to find comedy in mean-spiritedness, it also relies heavily on oversharing as a source of laughs. Mazer has plenty of experience with awkward humor given that he co-wrote episodes of " Da Ali G Show ," as well as " Borat " and " Bruno ." But so many of the characters in "I Give It a Year" seem to have misplaced their filters that the different variations on the same joke become tiresome.

With the exception of Guy and Chloe, the characters are either hostile or generous only with details no one wants to hear. Unhappily ever after might be the outcome they deserve.

R. At Landmark's Bethesda Row Cinema. Contains sexual situations, language and nudity. 97 minutes.

Movie Review: “I Give It a Year”

MPAA Rating: R for sexual content, language and some graphic nudity. Cast: Rose Byrne, Rafe Spall, Simon Baker, Anna Faris,  Stephen Merchant Credits: Written and directed by Dan Mazer, A Magnolia release Running time: 1:37

Share this:

About Roger Moore

Top posts & pages.

• BOX OFFICE: "Challengers" rise, "Unsung Hero" impresses, "Boy Kills World," including potential audience
• Movie Review: The "Civil War" so many have been asking for, but here on The Big Screen
• Movie Review: Korean experts on the uneasy dead? Call them "Exhuma"
• Movie Review: A Dutch treat -- Father and son bond over "Waterboys"
• Classic Film Review: Paul Newman's Pretty Boy Private Eye might be Tougher than he looks -- "Harper" (1966)
• Netflixable? Reindeer herders face a "Stolen" way of life in this Swedish thriller
• Movie Review: Snipers start seeing things in the "Bone Cold" Winter
• Movie Review: Matthew Modine takes "delinquents" bike riding "Hard Miles" to the Grand Canyon
• Movie Review: Tom Sizemore suffers through the Cinematically Interminable -- "Impuratus"
• Movie Review: "Teacher"

Find a Movie Review

Like Movie Nation on Facebook

Recent Reviews/Stories

• BOX OFFICE: “Challengers” rise, “Unsung Hero” impresses, “Boy Kills World,” including potential audience
• Movie Review: Matthew Modine takes “delinquents” bike riding “Hard Miles” to the Grand Canyon
• Movie Review: Tennis Threesome serves up a thoroughly modern “love match” — “Challengers”
• Classic Film Review: The Pulchritudinous Purple Poesy of “The Pickwick Papers” in a Pleasantly Prosaic Picture (1952)
• Next screening? Zendaya makes a statement — “Challengers”
• February 2024
• January 2024
• December 2023
• November 2023
• October 2023
• September 2023
• August 2023
• February 2023
• January 2023
• December 2022
• November 2022
• October 2022
• September 2022
• August 2022
• February 2022
• January 2022
• December 2021
• November 2021
• October 2021
• September 2021
• August 2021
• February 2021
• January 2021
• December 2020
• November 2020
• October 2020
• September 2020
• August 2020
• February 2020
• January 2020
• December 2019
• November 2019
• October 2019
• September 2019
• August 2019
• February 2019
• January 2019
• December 2018
• November 2018
• October 2018
• September 2018
• August 2018
• February 2018
• January 2018
• December 2017
• November 2017
• October 2017
• September 2017
• August 2017
• February 2017
• January 2017
• December 2016
• November 2016
• October 2016
• September 2016
• August 2016
• February 2016
• January 2016
• December 2015
• November 2015
• October 2015
• September 2015
• August 2015
• February 2015
• January 2015
• December 2014
• November 2014
• October 2014
• September 2014
• August 2014
• February 2014
• January 2014
• December 2013
• November 2013
• October 2013
• September 2013
• August 2013
• February 2013
• January 2013
• December 2012
• November 2012
• October 2012
• September 2012
• August 2012
• February 2012
• January 2012
• December 2011
• en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vit…
• rogermooresmovienation.fi…
• imdb.com/title/tt0100263/…
• boxofficeguru.com
• en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eph…
• Deadline.com
• Internet Movie Car Database
• Internet Movie Database
• The Hollywood Reporter

Follow Movie Nation by email

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Email Address:

Blogs I Follow

• Movie Nation
• Mann-ing Up
• Action/Adventure Film & Screenplay Festival
• Reel Time Flicks
• From the Fourth Row!
• keithandthemovies.wordpress.com/
• Los Angeles feedback film festival
• LOWLIFE MAGAZINE
• The Watcher Blog

RSS Feeds — subscribe, or else

• RSS - Posts
• RSS - Comments

Tweets and more tweets

• Max Von Sydow

Roger Moore's film criticism, against the grain since 1984.

Living in a Mann’s World

Get your short film showcased at the FEEDBACK Film Festival. Get your screenplay showcased at the Writing Festival.

Film reviews, news, previews and general insane ramblings of a film enthusiast!

Movies, Reviews,Trailers,Interviews and News

A monthly event... LAFeedbackFilmFestival.com

"Find what you love and let it kill you." – Charles Bukowski

Keeping an eye on all the latest mainstream films and television.

• Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
• Subscribe Subscribed
• Copy shortlink
• Report this content
• View post in Reader
• Manage subscriptions
• Collapse this bar

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

Back to Black

The life and music of Amy Winehouse, through the journey of adolescence to adulthood and the creation of one of the best-selling albums of our time. The life and music of Amy Winehouse, through the journey of adolescence to adulthood and the creation of one of the best-selling albums of our time. The life and music of Amy Winehouse, through the journey of adolescence to adulthood and the creation of one of the best-selling albums of our time.

• Sam Taylor-Johnson
• Matt Greenhalgh
• Marisa Abela
• Eddie Marsan
• Jack O'Connell
• 54 User reviews
• 62 Critic reviews
• 49 Metascore

• Amy Winehouse

• Mitch Winehouse

• Blake Fielder-Civil

• Cynthia Winehouse

• Joey the dealer

• Nick Shymansky

• Janis Winehouse

• Raye Cosbert

• Chris Taylor

• Artist Development Man
• Aunt Melody

• Perfume Paul

• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

More like this

Did you know

• Trivia Marisa Abela had done most of the singing in this film herself. She trained extensively to mimic Amy Winehouse 's vocals.

Technical specs

• Runtime 2 hours 2 minutes

Related news

Contribute to this page.

• See more gaps
• Learn more about contributing

More to explore

Recently viewed

To revisit this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories .

• Backchannel
• Newsletters
• WIRED Insider
• WIRED Consulting

Paresh Dave

Google Thinks It Can Cash In on Generative AI. Microsoft Already Has

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai is confident that Google will find a way to make money selling access to generative AI tools . Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella says his company is already doing it.

Both companies reported better-than-expected quarterly sales and profit on Thursday. And the stock prices of both soared on the results, with Alphabet further buoyed by its new plans to buy back more shares and issue its first-ever dividend.

But the near-term fortunes of Microsoft and Google, at least as far as their generative AI efforts are concerned, look different under the hood and in the comments of their executives. How investors, workers, and potential customers perceive the rivals’ dueling efforts could determine which gets the better chunk of the hundreds of billions of dollars in spending expected to flow to such software in the coming years.

In a call with financial analysts on Thursday, Nadella touted that Microsoft now has 1.8 million customers for GitHub Copilot , a generative AI tool that helps engineers write software code. That’s up from 1.3 million customers a quarter ago.

Among Fortune 500 companies, 60 percent are using Copilot for Microsoft Office 365 , a virtual assistant that uses generative AI to help workers write emails and documents, and 65 percent are using a Microsoft Azure Cloud service that enables them to access generative AI software from ChatGPT-maker OpenAI . “Azure has become a port of call for pretty much anybody who is doing an AI project,” Nadella said. The $13 billion dollars Microsoft has invested in OpenAI has certainly helped win those clients.

The buzz of interest in AI services helped drive revenue for Microsoft’s biggest unit, cloud services—up by 7 percentage points compared to a year ago—and Microsoft’s overall sales rose 17 percent to nearly $62 billion. It also gained cloud market share, Nadella added. The number of $100 million cloud deals that Microsoft landed increased 80 percent during the quarter compared to the same period a year ago, and $10 million deals doubled.

Alphabet’s Pichai had milestones to boast about too. He told analysts in a separate call that more than 1 million developers are using Google Cloud’s generative AI tools and that 60 percent of generative AI startups backed by investors are Google Cloud customers. Generative AI is also boosting the ad campaigns of Google’s advertising clients.

But Pichai didn’t say how many signups Google had drawn to Gemini Advanced , a $20 per month subscription plan announced in February that provides access to the company’s most advanced AI chatbot.

On Google’s core business of search, Pichai didn’t share revenue figures related to experiments to summarize query results using generative AI. By providing more direct answers to searchers, Google could end up with fewer opportunities to show search ads if people spend less time doing additional, more refined searches. The types of ads Google does show also could have to shift.

While Pichai said the tests show that users exposed to generative-AI-powered search are doing more searches, they are also potentially less profitable for Google because the underlying technology to power more advanced searchers is costlier than operating its longstanding systems.

Pichai expressed little concern on either front. “We are very, very confident we can manage the cost of how to serve these queries,” he said. “I am comfortable and confident that we’ll be able to manage the monetization transition here as well. It will play out over time.”

Alphabet’s overall sales rose 15 percent to nearly $81 billion.

It spent about the same amount—around $12 billion—as Microsoft investing in infrastructure like servers and data centers last quarter. But the results and comments on Thursday suggest that Microsoft is further along in delivering a payoff.

For now, shareholders are giving both companies leeway. At the close of Thursday, Microsoft shares were up 35 percent over the past year, and Alphabet 51 percent over the past year. They are both at or near all-time highs. But if customers keep flocking to Copilot and the prospects for Gemini and Google search don’t grow more clear, the trend lines soon could diverge.

Scott Gilbertson

Adrienne So

Christopher Null

Julian Chokkattu

You Might Also Like …

Navigate election season with our Politics Lab newsletter and podcast

Think Google’s “Incognito mode” protects your privacy? Think again

Blowing the whistle on sexual harassment and assault in Antarctica

The earth will feast on dead cicadas

Upgrading your Mac? Here’s what you should spend your money on