So caught up in the fictional love that they’ve conceived, screenwriters have for years made romantic comedies as believable as big budget action films, forcing serendipity down everyone’s throats until entire generations grow up feeling that their own relationships are, on average, inadequate. Thankfully, writer/director Dan Mazer, who has long been known for reality-bursting projects like Borat and Bruno, has given rom coms the shot of realism they need with the British film I Give it a Year.
The film debuted in Britain in February and premiered here in the States at SXSW – where our own Eric Eisenberg saw it and gave it at least one thumb up - and today a press release was sent announcing that Magnolia Pictures has put a ring on the U.S. rights to I Give it a Year, and will hopefully have a much more positive future than the film’s characters.
I Give it a Year follows the post-marital anti-bliss that greets mismatched newlyweds Josh (Rafe Spell) and Nat (Rose Byrne), who are assisted in their squabbling by Nat’s new workmate Guy (Simon Baker) and Josh’s best friend and ex-girlfriend Chloe (Anna Faris). Josh’s closest friend and best man is played by comedic giant Stephen Merchant, and Nat’s sister and brother-in-law are played by Jason Flemyng and Minnie Driver, rounding out this A-list ensemble.
Magnolia plans on releasing the film theatrically later in the year, and will also be sending it out through their Ultra VOD program, which puts its films out a month before theaters. In case you missed the trailer, you can watch it below.
