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Cult Review
Senior Film Conservator
Honestly, only if you're into the kind of movie that feels like a play recorded on a shoestring budget. If you want something snappy and modern, run away. If you have a weird soft spot for theatrical manners and people talking in exaggerated brogues, you’ll probably find it endearing in a clumsy sort of way. People who hate stage-bound films are going to have a terrible time here.
The whole thing feels like it’s being performed for the back row of a theater. J.A. O'Rourke is doing a lot of heavy lifting with his eyebrows alone. Every time he enters a room, you can tell he’s waiting for applause that never comes. It’s a bit sad, really. ☘️
There is this one scene involving a garden wall that goes on for an eternity. The characters just stand there, debating the weather and their feelings, and I’m pretty sure someone forgot their lines for a solid five seconds. They just stared at each other. It wasn’t tense, it was just... there.
It reminded me a bit of the pacing in Free and Easy, where you get the sense that the director was just happy to have everyone in the same room at once. The camera stays in one spot for so long that you start counting the cracks in the furniture. It’s not necessarily bad, just very, very stationary.
Is there a point to it all? I’m not entirely sure. It’s not as lively as Wild and Woolly, which actually had a bit of grit to it. Here, everything is polished and sanitized until it feels like a postcard from a version of Ireland that never actually existed outside of Hollywood’s imagination.
The ending is predictably cute. Everyone gets married or finds their purse, or whatever the plot called for by the third act. I checked my watch twice in the last ten minutes. Still, there’s a certain sincerity to it that you don’t see anymore. They weren't trying to change the world; they were just trying to fill an hour. Mission accomplished, I guess? 🤷♂️
