Running time: 95 minutes
Starring: Peter McDonald, Flora Montgomery, Marie Mullen, Pauline McLynn, Don Wycherley
Rating 6 out of 10
While the title, a twist on the 1989 Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan romantic comedy, hints at the film's cinematic references, it's the opening scene of a motionless Brendan sprawled out in a Dublin puddle complete with a voiceover pointing out the comparisons to the opening of Sunset Boulevard, that establishes When Brendan Met Trudy is playing by its own rules.
Few films are promoted on the strength of the writer, but when its writer is Roddy Doyle then it's understandable, especially as he's the only recognisable name on the credits. Doyle has a gift for creating colourful and original characters, it's a gift lavished on Brendan and Trudy whose eccentricities are a continual source of amusement and bemusement.
Brendan (Peter McDonald) is a disillusioned schoolteacher. He has little passion for his job, ignoring his pupils most of the time and forgetting their names all the time. Instead he spends his time staring out of the classroom window, daydreaming of becoming a film director. So obsessed with films is he that his idea of the perfect present for a young relative is a Francois Truffaut book.
Drinking alone in a bar one night he's approached by the brassy Trudy (Flora Montgomery). Confident and gregarious, she's the antithesis of the socially awkward Brendan. She is fascinated by his membership of a choir and persuades the painfully shy Brendan to sing her a hymn. Touched by his courage and intrigued by his enigmatic manner she agrees on a date to the cinema. His decision to take her to a Polish art movie is more surprising than her decision to stand him up. Incensed and smitten, he seeks her out and from their unpromising beginnings stems an unlikely union.
When Trudy's late night excursions coincide with a series of assaults labelled 'revenge of the women', Brendan begins to suspect that perhaps she's not quite the Montessori teacher she first claimed.
The charm of When Brendan Met Trudy is watching both characters collide with each other's very different worlds. Their lives appear only occasionally to intersect reality. Brendan's has until now, taken place mostly inside his head. All his points of reference are from the movies. While Trudy's wild spirit finds affection and solidity in Brendan's temperate company. The fun begins as she slowly unlocks his inhibitions.
The film is punctuated with Doyle's sweet and sardonic wit, but only enough to raise the occasional smile. The characters are all bordering on the absurd, from Brendan's mother's obsession with the word 'motherf*****', to his headmaster's love of Iggy Pop. Yet despite its many endearing qualities and its brave ambitions, the film fails its task. The exaggerated reality makes it difficult to fully engage with while their troubled romance never truly convinces. The result is that the whole thing comes off like some surreal fairy tale. It's a conclusion only endorsed by the bizarre epilogue.
Few films are promoted on the strength of the writer, but when its writer is Roddy Doyle then it's understandable, especially as he's the only recognisable name on the credits. Doyle has a gift for creating colourful and original characters, it's a gift lavished on Brendan and Trudy whose eccentricities are a continual source of amusement and bemusement.
Brendan (Peter McDonald) is a disillusioned schoolteacher. He has little passion for his job, ignoring his pupils most of the time and forgetting their names all the time. Instead he spends his time staring out of the classroom window, daydreaming of becoming a film director. So obsessed with films is he that his idea of the perfect present for a young relative is a Francois Truffaut book.
Drinking alone in a bar one night he's approached by the brassy Trudy (Flora Montgomery). Confident and gregarious, she's the antithesis of the socially awkward Brendan. She is fascinated by his membership of a choir and persuades the painfully shy Brendan to sing her a hymn. Touched by his courage and intrigued by his enigmatic manner she agrees on a date to the cinema. His decision to take her to a Polish art movie is more surprising than her decision to stand him up. Incensed and smitten, he seeks her out and from their unpromising beginnings stems an unlikely union.
When Trudy's late night excursions coincide with a series of assaults labelled 'revenge of the women', Brendan begins to suspect that perhaps she's not quite the Montessori teacher she first claimed.
The charm of When Brendan Met Trudy is watching both characters collide with each other's very different worlds. Their lives appear only occasionally to intersect reality. Brendan's has until now, taken place mostly inside his head. All his points of reference are from the movies. While Trudy's wild spirit finds affection and solidity in Brendan's temperate company. The fun begins as she slowly unlocks his inhibitions.
The film is punctuated with Doyle's sweet and sardonic wit, but only enough to raise the occasional smile. The characters are all bordering on the absurd, from Brendan's mother's obsession with the word 'motherf*****', to his headmaster's love of Iggy Pop. Yet despite its many endearing qualities and its brave ambitions, the film fails its task. The exaggerated reality makes it difficult to fully engage with while their troubled romance never truly convinces. The result is that the whole thing comes off like some surreal fairy tale. It's a conclusion only endorsed by the bizarre epilogue.
