Karen Valby over at Entertainment Weekly penned an excellent review about the new romantic comedy Leap Year. The movie, about a woman who flies to Ireland to propose to her boyfriend on the Irish holiday “leap year,” has been hammered by critics but given a favorable review by Valby (although eye candy Matthew Goode might have something to do with that).

The writer admitted to liking the ridiculous and sweetly predictable nature of the movie, but she did express her annoyance with romantic comedies and their ongoing portrayal of smart adult women as stubborn and childish when it comes to marriage.

When will Hollywood drop this strangely clung-to cliche that a grown woman will always be reduced to needy brat when she gets a whiff of wedding cake? […] When was the last time you saw a grown woman shove her girlfriends out of the way to catch a wedding bouquet? (Oh that’s right, 27 Dresses. But you didn’t see it at your colleague’s wedding.) When did you last see two grown women cling so desperately to their childish fantasies of the perfect wedding that their friendship was torn apart as they fought over the same venue? (You saw it in the dastardly Bride Wars, but your sister-in-law the teacher and her college roommate the lawyer did not act like this.)

The writer concludes that she would like to see more realistic portrayals of adult women who want to get married. She uses Fiona from Four Weddings and a Funeral as an example.

It was the rare wedding movie where a woman, even as Fiona was confessing her love to a man she knew she would never have, held on tight to her dignity. She didn’t dye Andie McDowell’s hair blue or get a bad spray tan or barf on the mother of the bride or tell Hugh Grant that she would die without him. She was beautiful and moving and poised.

I still haven’t seen Leap Year, so I can’t accurately judge the movie yet, but I think Valby’s thoughts are on point. What do you think? Do you agree or disagree with the way women in romantic comedies are portrayed when it comes to marriage?