Film Reviews

The Boys and Girl from County Clare

• Rating:
• Director: John Irvin
• Starring: Andrea Corr
• Details: Ireland, 90mins, 15s.

County Clare, 1966, and two warring brothers reunite after years of disharmony and grudges to compete in the all-Ireland music finals. While John-Joe McMahon (Hill) stayed at home to mind the farm on his own, his bounder brother Jimmy (Meaney) left to seek his fortune in Liverpool after seducing John-Joe's then girlfriend, and now piano player, Maisie (Charlotte Brady), and the pair have never spoken since. As the two brothers attempt to sabotage the other's performance, love grows between Maisie's daughter Anne (Corr) and Jimmy's Liverpool-born son Teddy (Evans). No matter how many times you've heard Colm Meaney curse in his career, it's still funny, but humour is the last thing given the holly in this poor ceili festival romp. Relying on the old views of Ireland (my God, is that a black man/hippy?), Colm Meaney's known screen persona and jokes like falling into rivers, The Boys and Girl from County Clare misses every punchline it attempts to hit. Meaney does Meaney while Hill puts in a good performance, never letting his Irish accent get too 'Oirish', but the two leads are let down by Andrea Corr, who needs more than her good looks and cute smile to win over the audience. Meanwhile, Butcher Boy star Eamonn Owens, whose roles have recently constituted hanging on someone's shoulder looking goofy, is no different here and desperately needs a good role to get his career back on track.

Review by Gavin Burke