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Really Surprised!

best movie i've ever seen.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

This may be the best of the Roddy Doyle adaptations though"The Commitments" was more popular.The depiction of everyday life in modern urban Ireland is wonderful. The family's reaction to Tina's "predicament" and the ways she copes with family and friends ring true.The only problem I had was adjusting my ear to the regional accent but this is superior acting and storytelling, and Frears direction lets both shine through.8/10

This is a story of a pregnant 20 year old (played by Tina Kellegher). She was part of an large Irish family and how they cope with this situation. The family values I grew up with are missing. All of the family needs a good mouth washing with lye soap. The core values I believe in were not visible. I asked myself while watching "what is the world coming to?" Then I see the family and especially the father (played by Colm Meanie) support the mother to be.It was not funny to me. Scary is more like it. Where have we come? Are our new values sufficient to carry us through? I guess it is a good movie that gets you to thinking. Even though it is not particularly entertaining.

Fine acting by Colm Meaney (Dessie Curley) and Tina Kellegher (Sharon Curley) carry this offbeat tragi-comedy about the perils of out of wedlock pregnancy in a working class Irish family. I think the Pope would approve of how this subject was handled, if he approved of the subject being handled in the first place.What do I mean? Well, here's an unwanted pregnancy that in the apprehension of some people could arguably be seen as a result of something about as close to a rape as it gets without technically being rape, depending upon how you define your "technically." (She was drunk and an older man took advantage of her in the parking lot of the pub.) I won't say more for fear of spoiling the plot for you, but be forewarned that some viewers will find the whole thing uncomfortable.Roddy Doyle, the gifted fictionalist (Paddy Clarke, Ha, Ha, Ha, The Woman Who Walked into Doors, etc) wrote the novel and the screenplay. Stephen Frears (My Beautiful Laundrette 1985, Dangerous Liaisons 1988, etc.) directed. Doyle is a master of dialogue and has a warm sense of people that he imposes on his readers. Known as a realistic writer, he is actually a sentimentalist with a keen feel for the foibles of his characters.There is a kind of TV sit-com feeling to Frears's direction in that nothing really depressing occurs. There's a neighborhood feel to the taunting, some windows are broken, and there's a fistfight, but none of the kids are on heroin or planting bombs. There's little violence and the sex depicted is minimalist. There's a sense that nothing is really wrong in the world, just some slips of behavior and some misunderstandings. You realize, for example, that despite Sharon's continued drinking the baby is not going to be born suffering from any kind of alcoholic syndrome. Furthermore, although Dessie has six kids to support, we never see him working overtime or worrying about money. Doyle is also a political writer and has a message. His message here is that the gift of life is precious over and above how it is conceived and that narrow-minded men (grandfather-to-be Dessie Curley) can, through love, understanding and a little effort, rise above their prejudices and do the right thing and feel the right way. Politically speaking, the film walks softly and carries no banner between the two sides of the abortion question, clearly identifying with the pro-lifers without overtly offending the pro-choice side.Perhaps it is best to leave the politics behind and, like many viewers, simply enjoy the laughs, the realistic dialogue and the warm, chaotic family atmosphere presented and save the moralizing for another day. By the way, you might have to watch this twice to catch some of the humor. Either that or have a good ear for the Irish brogue. For myself, I could have used subtitles.(Note: Over 500 of my movie reviews are now available in my book "Cut to the Chaise Lounge or I Can't Believe I Swallowed the Remote!" Get it at Amazon!)

This film is a delightful romp about a large, boisterous Dublin family which gets turned upside down when the eldest daughter unexpectedly becomes pregnant. Strong-willed Sharon Curley (Tina Gellegher) refuses to discuss who got her "up the pole," but is equally adamant about not wanting to get an abortion. She keeps her head held high as friends needle her, neighbors whisper, and younger brothers and sisters ask wide-eyed questions. Colm Meaney gives a standout performance as Sharon's dad, expertly revealing a gamut of emotions, from rage to sorrow to curiosity about the birth process to exhilaration at the prospect of becoming a granddad. Ruth McCabe plays the soft- spoken but strong-as-an-ox Irish mom to perfection. While it gets a tad slow towards the end, this film is a great rental if you want a light-hearted yet heart-warming celebration of family-- in all its gory and splendor.