Okay kids, ready to take the Leap Year quiz? Let's see if you, too, could have written the script for this painfully predictable romantic comedy.

1. Amy Adams plays our heroine Anna. She's . . .

a. A control freak and closet romantic who has lost sight of the important things in life.

b. A real estate stager by day and dominatrix by night.

c. Secretly a man.

2. Adam Scott plays her boyfriend Jeremy. He's. . .

a. A self-absorbed surgeon without a romantic bone in his body.

b. A surgeon by day, ninja assasin by night.

c. Secretly a woman.

3. When Jeremy goes to Ireland for a medical conference, Anna decides to fly to Dublin to propose to him. What happens?

a. A near-hurricane diverts her plane and she ends up stranded in a quaint Irish village.

b. She arrives safely and proposes to Jeremy.

c. Upon arriving in Dublin, she immediately becomes obsessed with the works of James Joyce and forgets that Jeremy even exists.

...

I am totally loving Robert Downey Jr. v.2.0.

Downey Jr. has always been an extravagantly talented actor—but he was undisciplined, partly due to his well-documented personal problems and partly due to the fact that he was, well, young. But this seasoned Downey Jr. is in full command of  his gifts—and what's more, he's sexier than ever. (Did I just write that out loud?). Casting Downey Jr. as Sherlock Holmes? Yes, please!

So for its brilliant casting alone, I have to praise Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes, even if I agree with those who feel that Ritchie strayed way too far from Arthur Conan Doyle's vision of the character (a Holmes who's kicking butt and taking names? gimme a break.) But the script—doctored by no less than five writers—at least gives Downey Jr. a chance to shine. He makes snappy one-liners, is sharply observant, and amusingly misanthropic—just like the real Holmes.

And like all great actors, Downey Jr. seems to raise the game of those around him. Jude Law, as an exasperated but loyal Watson, hasn't been this appealing in...

Ryan (George Clooney) has a job that most people would despise: He travels around the country and fires people. But, you see, Ryan actually loves his job. For one thing, it allows him to be on the road almost every day of the year-Ryan lives for things like the executive suite access and first class concierge service. Second, it allows him to avoid any kind of meaningful relationship with people: In his world view, people are baggage, just like the kind you don't want to lug on a plane. Finally, Ryan is proud of the fact that he's good at his job—at his best, he can actually make somebody feel goodabout being fired. He loves that about himself.

Of course, any character living in such a perfectly hermeticized world needs a little disruption. And for Ryan, it comes in the form of two women. First, there's fellow traveler Alex (Vera Farmiga). They bond at an airport bar over frequent flier miles and their mutual disgust over the inadequacy of certain car rental services. (This patter is great: It's the Noel Coward...

The great Irish director Jim Sheridan makes some of the most emotionally articulate films I've ever seen. I cried my way through most of My Left Foot and In America, and now I've done the same during his latest, Brothers. The film, a faithful remake of Danish director Susanne Bier's  Brodre, tells the story of two brothers, one good and one bad—that is, if you believe family lore.

Sam (Toby Maguire) is a decorated Marine and former high school quarterback married to Grace (Natalie Portman), his childhood sweetheart. They have two young daughters (Bailee Madison and Taylor Geare). Sam is just getting ready for another tour of duty in Afghanistan when his kid brother Tommy (Jake Gyllenhaal) gets released from jail. (The crime is never specified, but it appears to have been some sort of burglary.) The boys' alcoholic father Hank (Sam Shepherd), a Vietnam vet, thinks Tommy can do no right and Sam can do no wrong—and he never hesitates to say so. Inevitably, Tommy lives up to his family's low opinion of...