The Five-Year Engagement opened in theaters nationwide today, and for the most part reviews are generally positive.  While this is far from the quality of Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Nicholas Stoller and Jason Segel seem to have crafted a moderately funny romantic comedy that provides an original and honest take on engagements that fans of the genre are likely to embrace.

Of course, we expected that much consider Judd Apatow produced the comedy.  What we did not expect was the range of gripes that critics would have concerning Engagement.  The biggest complaint is that the movie goes too long.  At 124 minutes, this is your classic ‘phone checker’ with a weak middle that fails to live up to the high caliber book ends of the feature.  Without dramatic tension, some found the middle to be unbearable and as a result one called it “an unfunny version of How I Met Your Mother.”

However, good reviews ultimately outweighed the bad as many did actually find The Five-Year Engagement to be funny.  Critics do admit the laughs are not the rom-com’s strong suit, but that is more than made up for by its pure authenticity.  Reviewers say that without the chemistry from Segel and Emily Blunt that would not have been the case.  Between them and the excellent cast that includes Community actress Alison Brie and Parks & Recreation’s Chris Pratt, the ensemble is considered about as good as it gets in the genre.  Combine that with an excellent presentation and the movie is considered a win for any fan of romantic comedies.