The Five-Year Engagement

Faced with geographically opposed career opportunities, a newly engaged couple discovers that their life together has gotten in the way of their life together. And with this casually yet not automatically comedic concept, stars Jason Segel and Emily Blunt comport quite well. A Judd Apatow production, it runs purposefully long, loosening the corset of rom-com conventions to accommodate presumed authenticity, even if that includes misfired humor (beyond awkwardly funny, there is something nervier and more poignant: awkwardly not funny). As if in solidarity with all noncommittal young lovers everywhere, director Nicholas Stoller, Segel’s co-writer and fellow Apatow protégé, doesn’t push, instead just letting the movie coast along on baggy charm. A female co-writer might have kept some details in better check, but to complain of this is to seem stubbornly hard-hearted. The amiable supporting cast includes Chris Pratt, Rhys Ifans, and Alison Brie.