Save your money for something good and enjoyable

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Blistering performances.

For those of us lucky enough to have been "trapped" in a non-tourist, back-street pub in Limerick, the 'wrong side' of midnight and fallen under the spell of the traditional Irish ceilidh, will already have their radars up, on this gentle '60s set film from director John Irvin.It's likable enough, if you don't dwell on its shortcomings too much. Read some of the reviews here and you'll be looking out for the faults only. There are far too many vomiting incidents to stomach, for instance and as many have said, Andrea Corr, obviously cast as a star-draw simply cannot marry up over-exaggerated facial expressions with her dialogue.Whilst many swoon over the gorgeous landscapes and the photography will feel cheated by it actually being filmed on the Isle Of Man - there is a reason for this; IOM offered big tax breaks and incentives for film- makers, but this film is so promoted as being the Emerald Isle through and through, it's a natural disappointment to find out the truth.Colm Meaney and his estranged brother Bernard Hill are fine as the two brothers, the former having left for Liverpool years before to make his fortune. They happen to both be going to the same ceilidh festival and as in the best traditions of cinema, they try and outwit each other to win the overall top trophy. Some of these scenes are amusing; I wouldn't describe the film as a comedy - take it as I did and you won't be disappointed with this aspect. Andrea Corr's character (minus the glamour and make-up) gets a little annoying and unbelievable and her whirlwind romance with Colm Meaney's son is bland and uninteresting (as is Shaun Evans, who plays him).If you take the two brothers, the music, the craic, the (non-Irish) scenery and the family story you'll find a warming and invigorating Irish stew. However, the faults do mean it doesn't quite make four stars, for me.Best line has to be - Colm and his mate sit down for breakfast at a B&B, Colm tucking in heartily, his friend feeling delicate, due to a hangover. The friend orders a pint of Guinness; Colm looks at him quizzically. 'Well, you can't eat on an empty stomach, can you?' the friend replies. I saw the film on BBC2.

This is a very poorly paced, acted, and directed movie that, with a little imagination, could have delivered a decent story. The plot, such that it is, centres around two brothers from County Clare that parted in anger twenty years before the movie's setting at an Irish music festival. They meet as competitors, having engaged in some ham-fisted attempts to derail each other's arrival in time for registration, and quickly revisit the reasons for their acrimony. The plot develops so predictably from then on that the side stories are more interesting - but only marginally.The director curiously adheres to some stereotypes of Irish people and culture (and Liverpudlians' too), with plenty of drinking, cursing, vomiting, and general idiocy; however, he gets some very obvious cultural markers wrong - single women in pubs (the movie is set in the 1960s, when Ireland was far from its current liberal self), a man ordering wine in a pub (utterly unheard of back then!), and some non-Irish outsiders going totally unnoticed. Worse than this, however, is his unwillingness to go anywhere unconventional or unpredictable: characters are as flimsy as the script, the pace dull and boring, and even the music is mediocre at best. It tells a dull story competently; but nothing more. Colm Meaney meanders through the movie in third gear, while Andrea Corr makes a tolerable debut. Patrick Bergin and Frank Kelly have cameos that they won't add to their resumes. All in all, a poor movie that wastes what little it had going for it. Do yourself a favor and rent "The Field" instead.

I went to see this film at the Montreal Irish Film Festival a couple of years ago, and it was simply lovely. I saw it with my mother who is born & raised Irish, and a friend who is a Jewish Montrealer; we all enjoyed it the same. It's the kind of film that crosses all cultural boundaries and tells a great story with fantastic music. If you know the Irish, then all the better. It really gets the Irish character perfectly with all the different people in it. There aren't any stereotypes; all different types of characters co-exist.I wish there were a soundtrack for this, but I've never been able to find one! You'll probably laugh, cry and want to dance when you see this; it's an experience.

A cutesy make ya feel good movie I enjoyed it just for the light entertainment no need to think point of view. The real downer for me - and this is because I play music - is that none of the musicians in this movie could play anything and it was painfully obvious. Most of them didn't even move their fingers on the fingerboards. I had expected and watched this movie to see some decent Irish musicians playing as the backdrop for the movie and there was none. How much more could it have cost the movie makers to have had some real musicians in here ? They would have loved the exposure and it would have been a win win situation.