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June 3 - 10, 1998

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Two and a half stars

Waking Ned Devine

(1998)

Waking Ned Divine 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.
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