IF SHAKESPEARE was alive today he would not only say ‘the course of true love never did run smooth,’ the playwright would also despair at the screenwriters who penned Leap Year (Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont) for making the course of true love in the movie so predictable.

In this sickly sweet romantic comedy about Anna (Amy Adams), a young Bostonian who journeys to Ireland to ask her cardiologist boyfriend to marry her on leap year day March 29, there are no real surprises.

Her journey across the Atlantic does not run smoothly so rather than getting straight to Dublin she gets up to the kind of adventures people have when they star in these kind of films.

These escapades are shared with her travelling companion Declan (Matthew Goode), a disgruntled innkeeper/ taxi driver who agrees to take her across the country in time for her to propose to her beloved.

But after a few platefuls of dry chicken (the reference will be clear if you see the movie) they grow closer together and realise what is really important in life.

Nothing here is particularly new and viewers will have to suspend their disbelief about much of the plot:

Anna stumbles across an old Irish myth that women can propose to men in the Emerald Isle on March 29 so she jets off to see her beloved at a cardiology conference.

This so-called myth is well-known amongst my American friends and know of it happening in the States so why was Anna so unaware?

Why was her partner Jeremy (Adam Scott) invited to a major international conference when he was just an up-and-coming cardiologist rather than a big name?

And why does she fly out to Ireland so far in advance of the big proposal day?

It seems remarkably convenient that she has exactly the right amount of time to get from the coast where she starts her Irish adventure to Dublin.

But all this being said, it is a very sweet and enjoyable film which works because of the on-screen chemistry between Amy Adams and Matthew Goode.

Over the course of the movie their discussions reveal unusually complex characters for a rom-com.

She’s the optimistic hopeful who has to have everything planned out while he is the lovelorn cynic whose heart has been broken.

Eventually she learns you have to not make plans and let life happen to you in order to find happiness.

This overall message, set against some stunning Irish scenery, makes it a cockle warming tale for the winter months.

By no means is it the world’s best romantic comedy but it is a witty account of how two polar opposites butt heads before falling for each other.

The attraction between Amy and Declan is just believable enough to create a likeable enjoyable film.

It could be an ideal date movie – unless your relationship is at the four year mark and you don’t want your girlfriend to get proposal ideas.

Leap Year (PG) is in cinemas tomorrow.