I'm sorry, Richard Attenborough seems a really sweet guy, and I admire his stamina and bravery in continuing to direct movies in his 80s, but this film is dire. Yes, dire. It would even seem dire if you watched it on the True Movie channel,...
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I'm sorry, Richard Attenborough seems a really sweet guy, and I admire his stamina and bravery in continuing to direct movies in his 80s, but this film is dire. Yes, dire. It would even seem dire if you watched it on the True Movie channel, honest.
The film starts at a war veteran's funeral in Michigan in 1991, with Shirley MacLaine's character, Ethel, smoking a cigarette, and Christopher Plummer looking over at her. It then goes downhill all the way. (Sorry, I don't like saying bad things, but I really do feel this film was that much of a let down). There are too many plots and subplots (Neve Campbell's 'will she, won't she' go out with Plummer's son; Ethel's relationship with her parents, the whole IRA thing), too many bizarre coincidences (Belfast, Belfast, Belfast), too much overacting (Plummer, and though I kind of liked him by the end, McCann), too many wooden performances (Amell, Hawco, yes, even MacLaine), too much of Mischa Barton's toplessness (not needed - it didn't seem in place with the rest of the film), too much hair in MacLaine's wig, and too much effort in cinematography and atmosphere (the sunny scenes always had chiruppy birds, the dark scenes were sooo dark. At one point, for the bombing scenes, I thought it was going go with an Atonement-like style, but I was sadly mistaken). The script was terrible, giving the actors some awful lines (which might explain the poor performances). And why the phone box scene and the palava over calling the US? McCann is supposedly a simple, naive young lad - he doesn't work it out for himself, and his granny doesn't tell him what goes on up at the mountain though it would seem obvious that she should, yet he is bright enough to track down the owner of the ring). Oh, why so much other stuff? Left to me I (I know it wouldn't have been, as I am just a Joe Bloggs movie goer), but I would have got rid of the alternating gloss and grit to give the film a more even feel, removed the whole IRA plot (interesting potential, but in a film of its own), and pared the movie down to the simple love story between Ethel and Teddy, Chuck and Ethel. I would have shown something of the relationship between the elderly Ethel and Chuck, so that we can start to have some sympathies for these characters. The way it's currently presented you wonder why Ethel married Chuck, and 'what he did so wrong' that she never felt anything for him, other than seeing him as a 'fine man'. Keep Postlewaite, Fricker, Alpay. Smith was right for his part, but I don't think his part was needed. Change the rest of the cast, get rid of the pseudo-comic moments (the unqualified priest; post-USA visit loud shirt worn by McCann) and simplify the plot. It's a love story across the decades, a story of unrequited love, and a story bringing Ireland and the USA together in a relatively unusual juxtaposition. Dot. I'm starting to lose the plot myself, now so will finish here. Watch the film on video if you want to see if you agree with me.