Waking Ned Devine
(1998)
This Irish tall tale
sports a pair of genial performances from Ian Bannen and David Kelly, whose
sweetly cunning Jackie O'Shea sweetly gullible Michael O'Sullivan are trying to
learn who among the two-digit populace of their tiny coastal village has won
the National Lottery. Their ruses include sending invitations to a chicken
dinner that gathers the usual local eccentrics: an elderly shopkeeper with the
hots for Michael; a single mother and her pig-farmer suitor, who smells of his
trade; an arrogant big-city returnee; and a nasty crone in a wheelchair. Only
old Ned Devine is missing, and our heroes' ploys to separate him from his
ticket range from the mordantly hilarious to the tiresome. Although framed by a
prologue and a coda that are small comic gems, and sparked by the breezy charm
of the two leads, the film mostly just lies in state.
|