Possible Spoilers
Most films about Ireland are about either the Troubles, or the Catholic Church, or a crowd of loveable, happy-go-lucky rustics, so it comes as something of a surprise to find an Irish film set in middle-class Dublin with very little mention of religion and none at all of sectarian violence. Indeed, there is so little specifically Irish about this film that with a change of accent it could easily be relocated to London, New York or Los Angeles.
The film is told in a number of episodes, each seen from the point of view of a different character. The central character, Adam, is a handsome, charming young man who is engaged to a waitress named Lucy but nevertheless seduces not only Lucy herself but also her two sisters Laura and Alice and her brother's girlfriend Karen, and comes close to seducing the brother himself.
A plot like this could easily be the stuff of tragedy, but here it is treated strictly as a comedy. Unfortunately, it veers between two different comic genres, the romantic comedy and the sex comedy, with any humour there might be getting lost somewhere between the two. On the one hand, Adam is a promiscuous womaniser; on the other, he is the romantic gallant who wins Lucy's hand. The director and scriptwriter try to get round this contradiction by presenting Adam's behaviour not as exploitative but rather as liberating for the women concerned. The bookish academic Laura, the unhappily married Alice and the prim, virginal Karen are all shown as benefiting from their sexual experiences, nobody gets hurt, and all ends happily with a big white wedding.
For all its modern urban setting, this film is about as realistic as one of Grimm's fairy tales. It is set in a fantasy world where everyone is good-looking, where jealousy does not exist, where sex (especially promiscuous sex) is an unqualified force for good, where a man can bed every woman he meets and still end up marrying the girl of his dreams, and where a woman's surest way to find happiness is to get laid (preferably by Adam). And leprechauns exist and there really is a pot of gold at the end of every rainbow. If you like urban legends about knights on white chargers (or pale blue E-types) bringing sexual happiness to womankind, you will love this film. I am afraid it did nothing for me. 4/10.
Most films about Ireland are about either the Troubles, or the Catholic Church, or a crowd of loveable, happy-go-lucky rustics, so it comes as something of a surprise to find an Irish film set in middle-class Dublin with very little mention of religion and none at all of sectarian violence. Indeed, there is so little specifically Irish about this film that with a change of accent it could easily be relocated to London, New York or Los Angeles.
The film is told in a number of episodes, each seen from the point of view of a different character. The central character, Adam, is a handsome, charming young man who is engaged to a waitress named Lucy but nevertheless seduces not only Lucy herself but also her two sisters Laura and Alice and her brother's girlfriend Karen, and comes close to seducing the brother himself.
A plot like this could easily be the stuff of tragedy, but here it is treated strictly as a comedy. Unfortunately, it veers between two different comic genres, the romantic comedy and the sex comedy, with any humour there might be getting lost somewhere between the two. On the one hand, Adam is a promiscuous womaniser; on the other, he is the romantic gallant who wins Lucy's hand. The director and scriptwriter try to get round this contradiction by presenting Adam's behaviour not as exploitative but rather as liberating for the women concerned. The bookish academic Laura, the unhappily married Alice and the prim, virginal Karen are all shown as benefiting from their sexual experiences, nobody gets hurt, and all ends happily with a big white wedding.
For all its modern urban setting, this film is about as realistic as one of Grimm's fairy tales. It is set in a fantasy world where everyone is good-looking, where jealousy does not exist, where sex (especially promiscuous sex) is an unqualified force for good, where a man can bed every woman he meets and still end up marrying the girl of his dreams, and where a woman's surest way to find happiness is to get laid (preferably by Adam). And leprechauns exist and there really is a pot of gold at the end of every rainbow. If you like urban legends about knights on white chargers (or pale blue E-types) bringing sexual happiness to womankind, you will love this film. I am afraid it did nothing for me. 4/10.