The story revolves on only two characters: Jamie Wellerstein, a budding novelist, and Cathy Hyatt, an aspiring actress. It unfolds from their different perspectives, starting with Cathy (Anna Kendrick) teary eyed after their marriage has crumbled and finding out that Jamie has left her, singing “Still Hurting”. Then the story shifts to Jamie five years earlier when he first meets Cathy, singing “Shiksa Goddess”. From then on, we see them in the various stages of their marriage, with Jamie achieving success as a writer while Cathy’s career as an actress does not seem to go anywhere. It ends when Jamie can no longer stand Cathy’s insecurities and decides to end their marriage by leaving her.
The film, like the musical, is almost entirely done in song. There are very few spoken lines and the whole thing gives the film a distinct theater-like feel. There are materials that are really better suited for the stage and “The Last Five Years” is one of them. We can recall another off-Broadway success that fell flat when it was made into a movie, “The Funtasticks” (also its local adaptation, “Sinta”). The original material is really better off seen on stage (where it comes out more magical) than on the big screen, underlining the differences between the medium of film and the medium of theatre.
In fairness to the actors in the film version, they both perform superbly. Jeremy Jordan has been seen in the film “Joyful Noise” with Queen Latifah and in the hit TV musical, “Smash”. He gives a knockout performance as Jamie, especially in the songs “Schmuel Song” as they celebrate Christmas together and in “A Miracle Would Happen” as his career continues to rise.
Anne Kendrick also has powerful vocal pipes and delivers, but the problem is she lacks charisma, which was also evident in “Into the Woods” where she was such a lackluster Cinderella. She’s better off playing supporting roles, like in “Up in the Air” with George Clooney where she got an Oscar nomination. “The Last Five Years” shows the difficulty of maintaining a relationship between two artists who both want to succeed in their respective line of work. When one finally does, the partner who can’t make it can’t stand just being in the shadow of the more successful one. The film version also effectively conveys this, but it is merely passable as a whole and only those who are familiar with the stage version can appreciate it more, not those who are seeing it for the first time on film.
