“The Last Five Years” may not be for people who don’t like musicals — it is almost entirely sung– but it does cover psychologically complex material that is a far cry from the typical Hollywood tuner. About the stormy relationship between Cathy (Anna Kendrick), a struggling stage actress, and Jamie (Jeremy Jordan), a successful young novelist, it grapples with a question rarely posed on screen or in polite company: Can romances work between two people who prize their artistic ambitions as much as each other?

It’s an uncomfortable question, especially because it calls on the carpet the reality that, even now, most marriages only can handle one alpha if they’re to succeed. The fact that the question is set to music makes it easier to absorb and also more immediate. There’s an emotional accessibility (naysayers might call it ‘sentimentality’) to musicals that, to date, is unparalleled. And aided by wonderful melodies, the unusual combination of material and medium in “The Last Five Years” did prove a great, if short-lived, success off-Broadway. Adapted to screen by director/screenwriter Richard LaGravenese, it is also startlingly good. Continue Reading →