I absolutely loved this movie. It's a very quaint Irish romantic comedy. I think the characters play off each other very well and the sarcasm is well matched.
The overall sarcastic themes are interspersed within the movie, you have everything from politics to love with a few rivalries thrown in between.
I also really loved the chemistry between Marcy Tizzard(Jeanne Garafalo) and Sean Kelly (David O'Hara). T he movie starts with Marcy after another hangover - at work trying to just hide for the day when the politician she's working for Senator John McGlory (Jay O'Sanders)from Boston is getting his butt kicked in the polls. His head campaign manager Nick (Dennis Leary) comes up with this plan to help him find his Irish roots and they force Marcy to go to Ireland to find any McGlory that exists. Reluctantly, Marcy agrees and is on her way to a small Irish town, Ballinagra (pronounced exactly as is). Hilarity ensues when she realizes she is thrown right in the middle of a matchmaking festival. Her adventures take her to different locales - in search of any McGlorys who might have immigrated to Boston. In the meantime, Dermit O'Brian (Milo O'Shea) the local matchmaker decides he wants to record how to match-make because he is thinking of big business. So during the movie, we see him at relevant parts tell the camera the art of matchmaking. Dermit is a very integral part of the whole movie and is such a quintessential Irish figure that his charm just glides you through the whole movie. In the movie we see many relationships along the way. Sean with his brother Declan and his wife Sarah who own a local hotel. Dermit with a rival matchmaker Millie O'Dowd, Sean with Marcy and other characters who are looking for love in all the wrong places. There are many sight gags thrown in and behind the scene conversations that are hilarious. The only bad thing I can say about this movie is that there is a lot of profanity thrown in, but it is for funny purposes. I am not usually fond of cursing, but a lot of it is placed to make the scene funny. I don't think it was intended to just insult the characters. Again, that is why it is rated R also for language only.
All in all, it is one of my favorites and I must have watched it 20 times. I really liked the whole village feel of the movie and thought the characters were quite endearing. If you are looking for a romantic comedy through the eyes of a different culture, this is the movie to see, just be prepared for some profanity.
A+
4 out of 5 found this helpful