This delighful Irish comedy feautures the first original screenplay by "The Commitments" author Roddy Doyle, and tells of shy movie buff Brendan's attempts to woo the outgoing Trudy.
This UK-Irish co-production, written and produced by Roddy Doyle, is set in Dublin at the end of the last century during the "Celtic tiger economic boom". Meek teacher (and film nerd) meets streetwise wild girl and embarks on a passionate relationship complicated by the possibility that she is a serial castrator.
This is the proverbial 'quirky' comedy which at random erupts into moments of delicious, near-subliminal hilarity. When the lovers emerge from a multiplex the real humour is in the background, as the film titles on the marquee are revealed: Love on a Zimmer, Aimless Running, and - the kung fu flick the couple earnestly discuss - Remedial Action starring Oskar Von Hamme. There are moments of very clever wordplay, including a famous line from Sunset Blvd employed as sexual innuendo, whilst the subversion of the serial stalker clichés is pointed up by a delightfully droll (and understated) moment when the police spokesman warns young men to stay in after dark: "There's football on Network 2 and a film with Clint Eastwood later on."
The ingratiating leads play well off each other: Peter McDonald is perfectly cast as the mild-mannered, hymn-singing Brandan, daydreaming in class and outraged but fascinated by Trudy's behaviour, whilst the lovely Flora Montgomery is a fresh-faced fresh face (albeit one with a striking resemblance to Ellen DeGeneres), whose gloriously expressive eyes help bring her wild character to life.
Unfortunately the film loses its way, with the sweet romantic comedy mixed not just with Irish spice but adulterated with excrement, such as the distasteful scenes in which the hero's seemingly prim and proper mother spouts obscenities (ho hum). Around half-way through, the plot changes direction into an unremarkable crime caper. Furthermore, the film is, right from the title itself to the closing heel-kicking from Singin' in the Rain, so stuffed with filmic references, quotes, and homages that even the nerdiest film nerd may eventually find the whole exercise uncomfortably onanist (and, no, that's not a reference to a '70s horror film with Gregory Peck). You really have to wonder what the point is when the likes of Bicycle Thieves and A Bout de Souffle jostle with The Song of Bernadette and The African Queen.
But if you watch it for no other reason you have to see one very brief but very audacious gag: the proud liberation march of one particular sect of Orangemen, whose bowler hats and sashes are not so orange. That will take your breath away. And, like Some Like It Hot, there is an outrageous, irresistibly funny last gag.
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Mild-mannered schoolteacher Brendan (Peter MacDonald) is a man caught up in his own obsessions and out of touch with all those around him. However, when he meets the mysterious and kooky Trudy (Flora Montgomery), all that looks set to change. Trudy is a burglar and it's not long before Brendan agrees to come along on some of her midnight raids, a decision which leads to a variety of comic - and romantic - consequences.
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