10 Most Ridiculous Rom-Com Premises In Cinema History

7. Leap Year €“ Amy Adams Forces Proposal, Everyone's Terrible

One of the most boneheaded, arguably sexist premises in recent rom-com history is in Leap Year, where Anna (a slumming Amy Adams) has grown frustrated with her boyfriend, Jeremy (Adam Scott) not proposing to her. As a result, she learns of an Irish tradition that on February 29th (aka "leap day"), if a woman proposes to a man, the man must say yes. The film traces her attempts to get to Ireland to propose, and the friendship she strikes up with a kindly Irish innkeeper, Declan (Matthew Goode), which as you can guess, soon enough causes her to question who she really has feelings for. It's ridiculous because there's the impression the filmmakers thought they were being progressive by saying that a woman can propose to a man, but how about not following dumb superstition and just doing it when you feel ready? Instead Anna comes across as an idiot, making the real romance with Declan harder to root for. Also, they pull the big rom-rom no-no of cheaply turning the jilted man, Jeremy, into a douchebag in the final moments of the film, so that the actions of the protagonists seem morally "right". Pretty much everyone in this film is intensely unlikeable, making the frothy nature of the story all that more unbelievable.