Anna Kendrick Shines in "The Last Five Years"

Anna Kendrick and co. behind the scenes filming "A Summer in Ohio". 

It seems strange that there was ever a time where Anna Kendrick was not heading a movie musical. In fact, so impossible to realize is that this is the girl that first landed in the general public's consciousness for starring in the dreadful "Twilight" movies as the equally dreadful best friend of Kristen Stewart's character. Fast forward to when she won a wave of critical acclaim for her performance in Jason Reitman's "Up in the Air", which won her accolades from various critics groups and her first Academy Award nomination. If that hadn't been the year of Mo'Nique in "Precious", you can bet that Kendrick would have left the ceremony as the winner.
Acclaim isn't something new for Kendrick, however. At the age of 12, she won a Tony nomination for her role in "High Society". She is a classically trained performer, and a vet onstage. Her performances in the indies "Camp" and "Rocket Science" won her even more acclaim. She also headlined the incredibly successful musical "Pitch Perfect" which is currently awaiting the release of its sequel this spring, and got her a Billboard Hot 100 hit; "Cups (When You're Gone) reached number six on the charts and was certified multiplatinum.

Kendrick's recent work has been film musicals; it seems she's found her niche and filmmakers are responding. Stephen Sondheim's film adaptation of "Into the Woods" featured her as Cinderella, a role which should have won her a second career Oscar nomination, and now, "The Last Five Years", the big screen adaptation of the cult-hit musical by Jason Robert Brown.

The film, much like the original show, is tiny. It only had a budget of $2 million, and a lot of the marketing has focused on Kendrick's involvement; she's the selling point. It's hard to imagine the film getting any sort of a push without a star like her. The Weinstein Company picked up the film in a bidding war at last year's Toronto Film Festival, and are giving it a quiet release on iTunes and On Demand. It's quite sad that the film isn't getting a slightly bigger push, because despite its size, it's something special, and Kendrick's work is unlike anything we've seen from her before.

Not to say that it's a perfect film. It's definitely a story that's better suited for the stage. The story focuses on Cathy (Kendrick) and Jamie (Jeremy Jordan), who fall madly in love and get married. Cathy is a struggling actress, while Jamie is an author that's experiencing a whirlwind of success; Jamie becomes less present as his books climb the bestseller list, and Cathy becomes the supportive wife, a role she is reluctant to play as her prospects for becoming a serious actress are dwindling. Their inner frustrations become to much to handle; Jamie leaves. The film tells us both sides of their story, with Cathy's starting at the end, and Jamie's at the beginning. The narrative meets at the middle, their marriage, and the film ends as Jamie walks out, with Cathy riding high from their first date.

There's a lot of singing, which works to the film's benefit and weakens it. Jordan and Kendrick's voices are divine and sell a lot of the songs, even the weaker cuts from the soundtrack. "Summer in Ohio" and "I Can Do Better Than That" are the film's brightest moments; Kendrick belts them out with such confidence and tenacity that it's a wonder how such a tiny girl can house such a huge voice. Then again, this is the same girl who flawlessly delivered the best version of "On the Steps of the Palace", so that should come as no surprise.

But at the same time, the film's singing dominates so much of the narrative that it makes it a bit repetitive after awhile. The original show's songs featured the actors alone on the stage with no interaction from other characters. In the film, the songs are performed in the presence of others, and while some exposition has been added to the screenplay, the execution still doesn't lend itself as well as it does on the big screen than it did on the stage.

Still, Kendrick's work is so great, that it's really not important what faults the film has; you're willing to forgive them on the basis that she's such a transfixing presence, which is maddening because it doesn't seem like she's trying very hard. Her natural luminescence is something that worked so well with Into the Woods, but given she is the lead of this project, she shines even brighter. She does an amazing job at selling both the drama and the lighter moments of the piece, but even more enjoyable is her simultaneous disappointment, but determination to make things work.

Jeremy Jordan gives it his all, but he's not successful in trying to wrestle the film away from Kendrick. In no way is this a duet, though equal time is devoted to telling both sides of the story; this a beautiful, meticulously executed solo that makes me thankful Twilight happened after all, if for nothing else, everyone met Anna Kendrick.