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A tale of Irish quirkiness. |
| Local Hero meets Wild Mountain Thyme when a centuries old land dispute comes to ahead when a successful businessman from America travels to Ireland and quickly makes friends and enemies alike in the small Irish town. The Problem with People perhaps isn’t quite as weird as that mix would suggest but quirkiness takes over after a simplistic set-up. Fergus is dying and it’s his final wish that two separate halves of an estranged family reunite. | 2024 Directed by: Chris Cottam Screenplay by: Wally Marzano-Lesnevich, Paul Reiser Starring: Colm Meaney and Paul Reiser | |
| Ciáran (Colm Meaney) is Fergus’s son and he’s tasked with finding, and bringing to Ireland, his great-grandfather’s brother’s great-grandson. In other words, his cousin, or third-cousin to be exact. Meet Barry (Paul Reiser), the American land developer who finds the unexpected phone call a little bizarre, but hey, he’s always wanted to go to Ireland, so there he is very out-of-place but warmly welcomed by all of the locals who already think of him as family. A rift that died generations ago is about to be mended. When that simple premise is established and solved within thirty minutes, obviously that’s just act one of this story. There are lots of little tidbits thrown into the first act that it’s not a huge surprise where act two goes. A movie also wouldn’t be titled The Problem with People if everybody got along and didn’t try to screw over everyone else. The Local Hero reference comes directly from the movie. It’s Barry’s favourite movie, and even though the initial premise and first two acts are opposite in many ways (and as we’re reminded, "Ireland and Scotland are two completely different countries!"), it pays homage with a very similar setting and characters. The beginning has an absolutely lovely Irish fiddle score and the dialogue both teases and compliments Ireland’s “prettiness”. The Wild Mountain Thyme reference comes from me. A weird Irish tale of romance and land disputes, which oddly is exactly what The Problem with People becomes. While this stays firmly in the land of reality, which Wild Mountain Thyme does not, the jump to the end is quirky solely for the sake of being quirky, it’s unnecessary, ties things up in a weird way, and even worse, the third act rehashes the first two acts in a boring manner just to get there. As you can tell, I’m not a fan of the third act. The first act can seem boring however if you’re paying attention, it drops so many hints for what’s to come in act two, that it’s way more clever than it might seem on the surface. The surface though gives us a lovely introduction to Ireland. It’s a great setting, the cinematography is perfect and combined with the score really sets the whimsical tone that this film desperately needs. The Problem with People is quirky and Irish, and the right audience: smart, mature adults looking for a light comedy, should really dig this. | ||