The Last Five Years (2015)

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

This is a musical... with Anna Kendrick... so I was thinking, "Awsome!" I love her voice, and she's a great actress, and a fun person, so I came into this with really high expectations. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't as good as I was hoping for. I also went into it completely blind. I didn't even read reviews before I watched it, so the timeline mix-up (which was really cool, but confusing at first) messed me up, a lot.Cathy (Kendrick) is an up and coming actress. She falls in love with an up an coming, Jewish novelist named Jamie (Jordan). Her songs start at the end of their relationship and work backward. His start at the beginning and work forward. The whole thing ends in the middle when he proposes. The deconstructed timeline made the movie, once you figure it out. They are two dreamy artists, so the love is fast and intense, but loses its substance when things get tough, and Jamie cheats on her, ending their marriage. It's a bit of a cliché, but probably happens more often than not. They are both so frustrated with their struggles in trying to make it in their perspective careers, that they lose touch with each other. The music was good. Mr. Jordan is in the new Supergirl series, so it was fun to watch him sing. I was impressed. Mrs. Kendrick's voice was beautiful, as expected. However, none of the songs really stood out for me. I love musicals because singing is a talent I truly wish I had, but truly don't. I did theater all through high school, and my drama teacher would always make a spectacle of how horribly I sing. So, when I watch a show like this, with talent like this one had, I want something that will stick with me. Sadly, the repeating melody is mundanely present throughout. There weren't any ups and downs.There is quite a bit of language throughout, and they even belt out the "F" word. I'm sad that Hollywood is doing that in every PG- 13 movie now.

If your like me you saw Anna Kendrick on the trailer or on the cover and said oh I have to watch that ha ha, but just a heads up I was not aware that the whole movie was 100% musical. I am glad I kept watching it tho because it was beautifully made. Only one thing that really bothered me was the ending, why cut it off there? With no explanation on if she moved on. I know its a expected routine when it come to movies but I wanted a little more then the fact that she couldn't find her path in her career and he left her THE END, then again why have the same story on in on perhaps that ending is what made this movie so great and explaining the hardship of life and the joy. All in all Anna Kendrick is amazing!

I have seen Anna Kendrick in several movies and I actually like her. But to my ear she is terribly miscast here as Cathy Hiatt if the intent was to have a really good singer. On the other hand if she was cast to mirror her character, i.e. a singer who never gets past the auditions, then perhaps she was perfectly cast. Still her full singing voice has a very annoying quality to it and I simply had to turn the volume way down in my home theater during her solo songs, that is how annoying I found her voice. She plays a young aspiring stage actress from Ohio who meets a young aspiring writer in New York. They fall in love, they get married, but they are going in opposite directions. he is becoming successful, she cannot get past the auditions. She becomes bitter, he tries to cheer her up, they argue, their 5 years together were interesting but not lasting.Corpus Christi native Jeremy Jordan is quite a revelation as Jamie Wellerstein, her lover and husband. His acting and singing were both very good and very appropriate. While there are a few other characters these are the only two who sing and really the only two who matter.

I hate to be harsh, really, but I love to be sincere.Anna Kendrick and Jeremy Jordan are both great, really, and the film is good… nevertheless, unfortunately, it results hard to like and I am afraid that the reason is the music. As in the purest Opera tradition, this musical is a non-stop singing drama. Melodies, however, are not catching and that's where and why (on my humble opinion) it flops.Without disturbing the masters (Mozart, Verdi… or even Berg), it should be recalled that even Operettas' Authors like Lehar or Leoncavallo built their fortunes on easy to recall, enjoyable tunes. And that writing both the Musical score and the Libretto (as Wagner, most notably, did) usually leads to heavier results.