It was actually a bit better than I expected it to be. As a huge fan off the off-Broadway musical, it is written in a way where it is nearly unfilmable. Due to this fact, the direction is off a bit but I expected, so I wasn't totally bothered by it. Jeremy Jordan is spectacular and surprisingly Anna Kendrick is as well. I wasn't a huge fan of Kendrick on the soundtrack, so I expected the worst but her acting was great. It's definitely flawed but honestly it is as good as an adaption would be. That being said, people who aren't fans of the source material probably won't enjoy it and very well could end up being a bit confused.

B

Highly enjoyed this. Anna Kendrick was sensational (this is probably her best performance since Up In The Air) and the story was sweet and sad. I think this could have been a minor hit with the right promotion - it's kind of a shame it was released simultaneously on demand. A-

Both leads were great, especially Kendrick. Some great singing. It is a little short at an hour and a half but I'm also kind of glad it doesn't overstay its welcome. And I thought the ending was kinda perfect, however sad.

A solid "B" from me. Could possibly become a B+.

A story of a youthful romance's rise and fall in the comic-yet-rueful vein of, say, Annie Hall or (500) Days of Summer, The Last Five Years is an entertaining and satisfying, if modestly scaled musical. The chemistry shared by leads Anna Kendrick and Jeremy Jordan (a new face to me) is convincing when the characters are madly in love and when they are simply very, very mad at one another. And the songs are pleasant and tuneful; each sounds conceived as a true song, numbers with choruses and melodies, rather than breathy collections of half-sung lines of dialogue (see: Les Misérables, Into the Woods). As a non-musical aficionado, this pleased me.

B