Divorcing Jack (1998)

Director:

David Caffrey

Writers:

Colin Bateman (novel)
Colin Bateman (screenplay)

Release Date:

14 August 1998 (Norway)

Genre:

Thriller | Comedy

Plot:

Black romantic comedy set around the troubled "peace process" and its effect on a cynical Belfast hack.

Plot Keywords:

Infidelity | Nudity | Columnist | Rough Sex Between Stranger And Underage Girl | Dying Words

Awards:

2 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

David Thewlis	...	Dan Starkey
Rachel Griffiths	...	Lee Cooper
Jason Isaacs	...	Cow Pat Keegan
Laura Fraser	...	Margaret
Richard Gant	...	Charles Parker
Laine Megaw	...	Patricia Starkey
Bronagh Gallagher	...	Taxi Driver
Kitty Aldridge	...	Agnes Brinn
Robert Lindsay	...	Michael Brinn
Adam Black	...	Young Starkey
Simon Magill	...	Starkey's Brother
George Shane	...	Woods
Alan McKee	...	Mouse
Brian Devlin	...	Dans' work mate
Sean Caffrey	...	Joe

Runtime:

110 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Australia:MA | France:U | Germany:16 (w) | New Zealand:R16 | Spain:13 | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland, UK

Company:

Scala Productions

Trivia:

The role of Starkey was originally offered to Robert Carlyle, but he had to drop out when the shoot dates were changed and he became unavailable.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Dan: [voiceover] When I was 8 years old, I woke up in the middle of the night and found my brother pissing on my typewriter. I decided then and there that there was something wonderful about alcohol.

Movie Connections:

References Doctor Zhivago (1965)

Soundtrack:

Danger Of A Stranger

Cutting satire of life in Ulster

This is a good film for those who may be interested to see a realistic depiction of the situation in Northern Ireland. This movie is perhaps better understood and appreciated by Ulster folk, though, as it contains a lot of in-jokes that may go over the heads of viewers who are unfamiliar with our area. We who live here can really relate to the situations depicted in the film, as well as to the satire that is so typical of Bateman's work and which translated rather well to film. I believe this movie is misclassified as a thriller. It is a satire, a black comedy, and the thriller format is just a vehicle. The situations were dead on and hilarious (in a very dark way sometimes), and the accents were quite good, in general, with the exception of Robert Lindsay (Brinn) who sounded fake to my ear. The taxi driver was perhaps one of the most realistic characters in the film, and even though she was only seen a couple of times, she stole those scenes. Well acted, realistic, fast paced and quite a good look at our province.