The Boys & Girl from County Clare (2003) User Reviews

A delightful film, with good lessons, pathos, fun, music & humour.

[Tom Murray · 7/10 · 26 May 2005]

The Boys from County Clare is a delightful comedy with many dark, dramatic overtones. Two brothers, estranged for years, are competing in a ceili (Irish dance music) band competition. Each will stop at nothing to prevent the other from winning, or even entering, the competition. We do not know the cause of the rift but it soon becomes clear that other characters are involved in it. It kept me guessing: sometimes right and sometimes wrong. As time passes, we learn more about the dark secrets of these characters and how they work things out.

If you like Irish music, then you have one more thing to love about this film; it is full of that music. The cast was well chosen both for appearance and acting abilities. Whether or not they really are, they do appear to be playing the music. The characters appear to be very real and always interesting.

There is considerable foul language and drunkenness in the film but it is essential to the understanding of the characters and their ways. There are many beautiful lessons and much pathos but even more humour in the film. Watch for a delightful surprise near the end.

Grand. Just grand.

[artzau · 8/10 · 31 August 2005]

If you like Irish music, that is, traditional Irish music, known to us who know, love and play, as sessions, then you'll love this little film. Colm Meaney, Jimmy, and Bernard Hill, Johnjoe are brothers in competition for winning a ceilidh band contest. Jimmy has immigrated and enjoys a modicum of success and Johnjoe has remained at home. The plot is thickened by the presence of Andrea Corr, Anne, who is Jimmy's daughter out of Charlotte Brtadley, Maisie, JohnJoe's piano player. The love interest is sparked by Jimmy's Liverpudlian flautist, Shaun Evans, Teddy, who falls heavily for Anne and were off the races. The dialogue is lively and the shenanigans are rampant. The payoff is fun and the music..., ah, the music. The music is aoibhinn ta gael. Under the wise baton of Fiachra Trench, the music is grand. Too, Andrea Corr of her own group, The Corrs, adds a bit of freshness to the pot with her perky Irish beauty. If you like sessions, you'll love this one. If you don't, well... listen anyway. The music is tops.

A Wee Sparkling Film from Ireland

[gradyharp · 8/10 · 8 September 2005]

Some films may be predictable, with minimal storyline and action sequences and still be a hit. THE BOYS AND GIRL FROM COUNTY CLARE hits that description on target. This is an emerald of a jaunty little Irish tale that thoroughly entertains with a fine cast and superb Irish music and leaves the audience wholly satisfied - AND has a fine social comment! The setting is County Clare where the International Irish Music festival is at hand. For years John-Joe McMahon (Bernard Hill) and his little band have won the ceili (Irish dance music) band competition. Members of his hometown orchestra include young Anne (Andrea Corr) and her unmarried grumpy piano-playing mother Maisie (Charlotte Bradley). Word comes round that John-Joe's long estranged brother Jimmy (Colm Meaney) has a band from Liverpool, a band that includes Liverpudlian types including young and handsome flautist Teddy (Shaun Evans) and is aimed in the direction of the Festival to compete. In fine Irish tradition the two mutually angry brothers try to sabotage each other's appearance, but alas they both come face to face in the competition. With Jimmy's arrival we discover that Maisie's negative outlook comes from the fact that Jimmy is the one who wantonly got her pregnant and Anne is Jimmy's daughter. Maisie is forced to admit to Anne her betrayal of ancestry news and the mother/daughter relationship is strained to the breaking point.

Anne and Teddy (naturally) fall for each other and the two of them decide to return to Liverpool after the festival ends with neither's band the winner. This development is threatening to Maisie and she finally confronts Jimmy with her pent up resentment and disappointment. How the young ones cope with their situation and emotions and resolve the problem of distance is the finale of this sweet story and is best left to the viewer to discover.

The acting is homogeneously fine with the comedy and drama in fine balance. And oh the music! Director John Irvin has created a little jewel of a film that warms the proverbial cockles of your heart. Grady Harp

Ceilidh Music meets 'Heartbeat'...,

[tim-764-291856 · 6/10 · 5 August 2012]

For those of us lucky enough to have been "trapped" in a non-tourist, back-street pub in Limerick, the 'wrong side' of midnight and fallen under the spell of the traditional Irish ceilidh, will already have their radars up, on this gentle '60s set film from director John Irvin.

It's likable enough, if you don't dwell on its shortcomings too much. Read some of the reviews here and you'll be looking out for the faults only. There are far too many vomiting incidents to stomach, for instance and as many have said, Andrea Corr, obviously cast as a star-draw simply cannot marry up over-exaggerated facial expressions with her dialogue.

Whilst many swoon over the gorgeous landscapes and the photography will feel cheated by it actually being filmed on the Isle Of Man - there is a reason for this; IOM offered big tax breaks and incentives for film- makers, but this film is so promoted as being the Emerald Isle through and through, it's a natural disappointment to find out the truth.

Colm Meaney and his estranged brother Bernard Hill are fine as the two brothers, the former having left for Liverpool years before to make his fortune. They happen to both be going to the same ceilidh festival and as in the best traditions of cinema, they try and outwit each other to win the overall top trophy. Some of these scenes are amusing; I wouldn't describe the film as a comedy - take it as I did and you won't be disappointed with this aspect. Andrea Corr's character (minus the glamour and make-up) gets a little annoying and unbelievable and her whirlwind romance with Colm Meaney's son is bland and uninteresting (as is Shaun Evans, who plays him).

If you take the two brothers, the music, the craic, the (non-Irish) scenery and the family story you'll find a warming and invigorating Irish stew. However, the faults do mean it doesn't quite make four stars, for me.

Best line has to be - Colm and his mate sit down for breakfast at a B&B, Colm tucking in heartily, his friend feeling delicate, due to a hangover. The friend orders a pint of Guinness; Colm looks at him quizzically. 'Well, you can't eat on an empty stomach, can you?' the friend replies. I saw the film on BBC2.

Picture postcard Ireland as it never was.

[wisewebwoman · 7/10 · 13 September 2005]

Not much of a plot to this, most of my points are for the lovely Andrea Corr and the acting of the three brothers, Colm Meaney, Bernard Hill and Noel Bridgeman.

All plot lines are totally predictable if not contrived. The abandoning father, the bitter mother, the angry daughter. However, it is saved, and this is refreshing, by there being no mawkishness or melodrama.

Poor County Clare gets short shrift and never appears, Isle of Man and Northern Ireland stand in for it.

I don't know what the reasons for not filming it in today were. There are frequent references to the Beatles to remind us it is taking place in the sixties. But I know for a fact that a Clare man married five times in England and returning to County Clare in the sixties would have been met by the priest and run out of town on a rail as giving bad example to the young ones.

Also the single mother lying about her marital status (a widow), that was never clear, did she invent a man who died and a name for herself and her daughter? I don't like plot holes likes this. With such a simple storyline these should have been tightened up.

The ceili band and actors were badly out of synch in some of the scenes, feet tapping hopelessly out of rhythm. But that said all in all it was a pleasant little froth of a thing with lovely music.

7 out of 10.

For the most part I enjoyed this Movie

[ostryjak · 6/10 · 31 December 2005]

A cutesy make ya feel good movie I enjoyed it just for the light entertainment no need to think point of view. The real downer for me - and this is because I play music - is that none of the musicians in this movie could play anything and it was painfully obvious. Most of them didn't even move their fingers on the fingerboards. I had expected and watched this movie to see some decent Irish musicians playing as the backdrop for the movie and there was none. How much more could it have cost the movie makers to have had some real musicians in here ? They would have loved the exposure and it would have been a win win situation.

cute...

[maeveo · 23 July 2005]

Yes, this movie is adorable...but I feel that a lot of that was just because it took place in Ireland. I'm a full blooded Irish and saw through it...It's easy to get swept away in soft accents, pints, and fiddle music.

It seemed like the plot just sprung out of nowhere. Like, we were watching the movie for half an hour and then out of nowhere Anne pops up and is like "WHOS MY DADDY". There wasn't much character development so it was hard to really feel for any of the characters unless you were lulled into the Irish environment. Even if you're meant to read between the lines...there just should have been more. We barely knew anything about the characters and we were supposed to care about their pasts? Plus, for all of the praise Anne was getting for being such a great fiddler, the movie didn't highlight her playing at all. She didn't stand out in sound or in appearance from any of the other band members, other than just being pretty.

But, I guess its sort of cute.

Some good music but generic story

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 18 March 2014]

Jimmy McMahon (Colm Meaney) leads his traditional Ceili band in Liverpool despite the explosion of the Beatles. Meanwhile back in County Clare, John Joe (Bernard Hill) is sharpening his group to defend their victories at the Irish traditional music competition. Jimmy McMahon returns to County Clare for the competition and does battle with his brother John Joe McMahon.

The music is good at times. Colm Meaney and Bernard Hill are solid actors who carry this movie. The other actors aren't as good. Andrea Corr of the band The Corrs does a passable job as the ingénue daughter. Occasionally, there are a few cute jokes, but the drama isn't as good as it should. They dance around the secret for half of the movie. The secret gets a big reveal, but it's only a blip in the otherwise generic movie. Director John Irvin just doesn't have the touch for this material.

A very enjoyable film

[mcmahon4 · 9/10 · 14 March 2005]

I think the other reviews did not give this film enough credit. My wife and I, as well as everyone in the theatre we were in, enjoyed this film immensely. First of all, it is a beautiful film to look at as its views in Ireland are simply breathtaking. Second, it is a wonderful touching story, particularly the relationships between the two brothers and Andrea Corr and her mother. Andrea Corr, by the way is stunning, and I think she will be doing more films. Perhaps you need a bit of understanding growing up as an Irish Catholic to fully appreciate it, but the overall writing was very clever and fun. I did want to know a bit more about the back story, of how these people got to the point that they are, but I wonder whether I lost a bit, because sometimes the Irish speak so quickly, that important lines go right past you. I want to see it again.

Good music brightens a family feud

[SimonJack · 7/10 · 22 April 2018]

Two estranged brothers who haven't seen each other for 20 years meet up for the annual Irish music festival. They both have ceili bands and will compete for top honors in a traditional Irish music venue. The younger brother has been living in England where he has succeeded in business, while the older brother stayed home on the family farmstead. Colm Meaney plays Jimmy, the younger brother. A romance develops between a boy and girl from either band. There's more to the story, as well.

The film has a fine cast, all of whom do well. Bernard Hill was especially good as John Joe, the older of the two brothers. Shooting was on the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, The scenery and pictures of the town and people gathered for the music competitions gives the film a real down-to-earth feel.

"The Boys & Girl from County Clare" is a good light comedy drama with some very good doses of music. The ending is a surprise but very good and appropriate. But for some unnecessary nudity of a young woman going for a swim, and frequent use of vulgar language, this would be a good film for the whole family.

Here are some favorite lines from the film.

John Joe, "It's better to gain a musician than lose a daughter, I always say."

On the ferry across to Ireland, Jimmy tells the band that if they don't win, they will have to walk home. Later, one of the boys asks, "Is he serious?" Another boy asks, "About what?" The first lad says, "About us walking home if we lose." The other boy replies, "Didn't you bring your swimming trunks?"

Possibly one of the worst films ever made

[billy-738-70487 · 1/10 · 14 May 2010]

Every cliché about Ireland you could ever think of, plus some falling-in-the-water Ealing comedy stuff. They might have got away with it if it was MADE in the sixties. Though I doubt it.

Hippies (in the early sixties??), bitter old maids, winsome lasses, young lads throwing up, sour old codgers with a heart of gold ... all we need is a couple of leprechauns.

Andrea Corr is an amazing musician - she can play the fiddle without moving her fingers. (Why on earth didn't they ask Sharon?) And her acting is ... unbelievable. "How can you ever forgive me," she asks her mother at one point. "I've said such dreadful things." Never mind your mother, girl, it's the rest of us you have to worry about.

Absolute charmer. A delightful heartwarming movie!

[kolarsan1 · 10/10 · 12 March 2005]

A wonderful anti-dose to mainstream studio fare. This is a simple, but not simple-minded film that will make you laugh and cry. The performances are superb. Colm Meaney and Bernard Hill are a joy to watch, Charlotte Bradley delivers a masterful performance as the mother and Andrea Corr is a radiant presence. She is smart, direct and passioned. The contagious Ceili music will make you tap your foot long after the end of the film. You will come out of theater wanting to go to the nearest pub to have a pint of Guiness and hope to encounter there the characters from the film! What a wonderful treat this film delivers. Embrace it without any prejudice and you will experience a gentle and sweet ride.

I believe that if it includes music, it includes me...

[jpschapira · 7/10 · 2 August 2005]

I had just finished watching a movie and I was planning either to write about it or to go to sleep once and for all. But then, a beautiful music (got to thank Fiachra Trench for that) arrived to my ears. Never mind, I was about to get up when I saw this girl, this lady; this beautiful woman. I recognized her from somewhere and in less than a minute I remembered her. Andrea Corr, the singer of The Corrs (a group that ironically Fiachra Trench helps musically) and now actress for the third time. She has a trapping screen presence; she's gorgeous and full of joy.

The story came next, and it involved what I most love in the whole world: music. But it is not that typical music contest story. There's music all along, and a contest too; but first time screenwriter Nicholas Adams involved another things: love, family and feelings. It's the most charming script, really, in the way it introduces the film's characters, one by one and in the way it deceives us keeping the most predictable secrets hidden until the right moments.

We first meet Jimmy (a very acceptable Colm Meaney), playing with his music band. He has many gifted musicians under his direction, including Teddy (an excellent young actor named Shaun Evans), who makes Jimmy because he is fond of modern music and plays that all the time. Then an old man gets up from a bed and walks a little bit. This is John Joe (Bernard Hill, that captain from Titanic now in top form), who lives, we quickly understand, for music. His band is led by Maisie (Charlotte Bradley) in the piano, and Anne, (the character played by Andrea Corr) who has a gift for the violin.

Thinking in other movies of this type, the music movies that bring up past moments for the people involved in the contest and other things like that, "The fighting temptations" came to mind. Mainly because it starred Beyoncé Knowles, in what was a vehicle for her, because she promoted her songs and the camera focused her intentionally and constantly. Here, Andrea Corr is another stunning actress inside the ensemble, and if you don't know who she is, you'll enjoy her brilliant portrayal of a messed up teenager (she played a teenage girl with 29 years) who needs someone that guides her way.

In comparison with "The fighting temptations", the ending here is different. It is what I was talking about Nicholas Adams' script, very sympathetic. Then the characters are real and we understand them. For example, John Joe says that Jimmy has no rhythm and when we see Jimmy playing alongside his band, his feet are totally out of time. Real are also the characters' personalities, that stick to them in all of their actions. So we laugh because of how stupid some characters are and the opportunities they miss because of the things they do. We get moved in the beautiful love story because we understand life can be like that sometimes and because the chemistry between the actors in undeniable.

John Irvin directed passionately and correctly a movie that's for anyone. Anyone who likes music, anyone who likes love, anyone who appreciates family and I forgot, the ending...Probably the most awkwardly pleasant ending I've witnessed in a long time. You'll see what I'm talking about.

if it wasn't Irish, i woulda shut it off...

[revcosmo · 4/10 · 24 December 2005]

The fact that this movie was about Irish people was about the only thing it had going for it. As the son of an Irish woman, I like watching Irish movies; I guess because they remind of my grandparents and things like that. But as a movie, without regard to its setting or its characters' nationality, it was quite dull. The acting wasn't bad, but the script was. All the plot points were very predictable and almost straight out of a soap opera. There were a few funny quips here and there, but most of the dialogue was rather uninspired and well, dull. The writer certainly didn't have any touch of the blarney in him.

Anyhow, if you just want to sit and listen to some pretty Irish accents for an hour and a half, then by all means, see this movie. But if you're looking for something interesting and well written, look elsewhere. Even my mum thought it was boring and pointless....

Fun Movie to Watch

[jaytosh522 · 7/10 · 2 December 2007]

I hadn't seen the movie until this spring, and put it on my DVR to watch again and again. I thought the movie was very well acted and put together. The scenery was beautiful and the locations were authentic. The plot flowed and there were a few twists which kept the movie moving right along without losing my interest. Colm Meany and Bernard Hill were great, and the rest of the cast did a fine job. Watch for the twist at the end that is really a lot of fun. I had never seen Charlotte Bradley before and thought she portrayed an Irish mother very well. Andrea Corr did a great job as an actress, and really shone as a musician and a comedian. The movie captured the time it was set in (60's) very well. Watch this movie and enjoy it.

Sweet but nothing substantial

[sharon_hunt · 6/10 · 13 March 2005]

I don't recommend this movie. I'ts not a horrible movie by any means, but there's nothing about it that stands out enough to warrant paying for a theater ticket. The tone and pace of the movie reminded me a lot of The Englishman who Went up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain. The problem with this film is that it doesn't have anything as charming as Hugh Grant.

I did like the two main characters who are brothers, long separated. But the rest of the case wasn't charming enough to hold my interest. Plus, this movie had two vomiting scenes, one of which involved false teeth and was really gross.

Movie could have used more music

[atruitt · 7/10 · 1 April 2005]

I found Andrea Corr stiff in most of her scenes, and she was not comfortable playing the fiddle, most of the time they would do a close up on her face smiling. Andera is a beautiful to look at however she exhibited a limited range in her acting.

The acting associated with the music could have been better, it was obvious to me that fiddle players were not playing the instruments, I don't play the fiddle but if was obvious to me. The previews really contained the best parts, there were a couple of surprises and a plot twist at the end, however the musical content could have been more satisfying. Colm Meany's acting consisted of smoking cigarettes and saying F***. Bernard Hill acting was excellent and he really carried the film, he played his character some what low key and really was never developed as a character.

There should have been more emphasis on the music. The contest consisted of the bands playing before 6 judges who really displayed no emotional relationship to the music, and the final musical piece the big dance was really confused, the best bit of music was when some band members played with the Hippies in my opinion.

With competition in the All Ireland as the focus family drama ensues

[chicitysue · 7/10 · 29 April 2006]

The All Ireland music competitions, called "Fleadh Cheoil" (Flah Keeole)(Music Festival) are still being held every August in the Republic of Ireland. Even though the fleadh in the movie took place in 1966, the depictions of the fleadh are realistic with the streets full of people, the presence of people who have nothing directly to do with the competitions coming to the festivities, competing musicians from overseas,and the musicians playing in sessions.

There is a lot of humor in this movie, but also some family drama. The focus is the Ceili Band competitions with the bands of two brothers, one from rural Clare in Ireland and the other from Liverpool, who have had had a feud for over twenty years.

I enjoyed both the comedy and the realism of this movie.

Magical Music Comedy

[stansmith122 · 8/10 · 3 September 2004]

The acting was grand, the music was authentic and the story was cute. Made me laugh and my wife cry, as romantic comedies should. If Irish people are your thing then watch this.

Andrea Corr does a fine job as the lead of the one band. I would guess that she grew up in a similar environment and probably played in a band just like the one portrayed.

The Irish music is great. It made me want to go out and get traditional Irish CD's

Might have been better if they cut the movie after the final dance at the competition. The story after this is OK, but not great.

Great Craic.

Entertaining Irish and British comedy with music.

[TxMike · 1 May 2006]

It is the 1960s, and the Beetles' music is sweeping the world. There is an annual competition in Dublin, the type of music has a name but is unfamiliar to most of the world. The local favorite band is getting ready for it, with the boys of County Clare, and one very cute and very talented girl.

At the same time a band based in Liverpool is getting ready for the same competition, and its leader is the brother of the leader of the Irish band. So much of the movie involves heated competition between the brothers, including some antics to try to delay each one enough to miss the registration deadline of 8PM.

Things get more complicated when the young girl in the Irish band begins to fall for a nice young boy in the Liverpool band. Her mother is unusually upset by this, and warns her daughter not to run off to Liverpool. "Let him come to you."

SPOILERS. The young daughter happens to also be the daughter of the Liverpool brother, a womanizer who had had a short fling with her mother years earlier. At first it seemed that the girl would go back to Liverpool with the band, but she changed her mind and statued home. But eventually the boy from Liverpool showed up for her, as her mother had suggested. Also, a dark horse won the competition, a band put together by the 3rd of the violin playing brothers, now a missionary priest who had brought along a group of black musicians he had taught to play the Irish music.

The Boys and Girl from County Clare ?

[emoac1 · 7/10 · 6 July 2020]

Interesting look at the dynamic between competitive brothers with a big dollop of Irish ceilic music. The alternative title is too long. Colm Meaney and Bernard Hill give solid performances

Dreadfully dull

[terencef100 · 3/10 · 30 April 2006]

This is a very poorly paced, acted, and directed movie that, with a little imagination, could have delivered a decent story. The plot, such that it is, centres around two brothers from County Clare that parted in anger twenty years before the movie's setting at an Irish music festival. They meet as competitors, having engaged in some ham-fisted attempts to derail each other's arrival in time for registration, and quickly revisit the reasons for their acrimony. The plot develops so predictably from then on that the side stories are more interesting - but only marginally.

The director curiously adheres to some stereotypes of Irish people and culture (and Liverpudlians' too), with plenty of drinking, cursing, vomiting, and general idiocy; however, he gets some very obvious cultural markers wrong - single women in pubs (the movie is set in the 1960s, when Ireland was far from its current liberal self), a man ordering wine in a pub (utterly unheard of back then!), and some non-Irish outsiders going totally unnoticed. Worse than this, however, is his unwillingness to go anywhere unconventional or unpredictable: characters are as flimsy as the script, the pace dull and boring, and even the music is mediocre at best. It tells a dull story competently; but nothing more. Colm Meaney meanders through the movie in third gear, while Andrea Corr makes a tolerable debut. Patrick Bergin and Frank Kelly have cameos that they won't add to their resumes. All in all, a poor movie that wastes what little it had going for it. Do yourself a favor and rent "The Field" instead.

This is a great movie!-lots of fun!

[andreacorrheaven · 10/10 · 26 December 2004]

First of all let me start by saying.." I loved this Movie!!! It was way more than anything I was expecting! Andrea Corr's acting was incredible! This movie is a fun,entertaining romantic comedy and was very hilarious with something for everyone. Andrea Corr stars as Anne a young talented violin player in a Celtic band trying to repeat as champions of the All-Ireland championships. Anne has grown up not knowing her father and thinking he was dead. Anne is sheltered by her mum played by Charlotte Bradley who is overprotective of Anne much to Anne's dismay. Anne wants to experience romance in her life but her mum has other plans which leads to conflict between the two. Bernard Hill plays the groups leader and Anne's mum friend. The leading contender to dethrone the band is a band from Liverpool lead by Bernard's younger successful brother played by Colm Meaney. If you don't want spoilers proceed with caution.

The two feuding brothers seem to stop at nothing to prevent the other band from registering in the contest. While at the contest Anne falls for flute player Telly-played by Shaun Evans who is also the rival band's best player. Anne's mother wants no part of this budding romance and forbids Anne from seeing Telly. During the course of the contest Anne learns the truth about her father and why her mum is so bitter and protective of her. Now I don't want to give away the ending so I wont but I just want to add this is one of the best endings I have seen on the silver screen. The movie is full of high-jinx's between the two brothers and the music in the movie is terrific!

There were some priceless moments during the movie with Andrea including a drunken Andrea falling into a river then throwing up on Telly and also some touching heartfelt moments between Anne and her mum. Andrea Corr in this movie made me both laugh and cry.

Disappointment

[cbeetle · 2/10 · 4 June 2005]

This movie was trite and utterly predictable. The two or three "big secrets" of the film were transparent far in advance. I was bored through most of it, and occasionally uncomfortable due to some rather obvious overacting. Even the music, for which I had had high hopes, could not wake this picture up, though admittedly part of this may have been due to the audio in the theater I attended.

I wasn't offended at all by the coarseness of some of the dialog and action in the film. I was, however, taken aback that its authors expected me to be entertained by it. There was also more vomiting during this movie than I usually care to see. Most of it on-screen.

Just a sweet little movie

[cheetah_baby · 8/10 · 26 July 2006]

Without giving too much away (I put spoiler just in case), this was just a really sweet movie. Good cinematography, an interesting plot without too much heavy drama, and excellent music. The acting, of course, was great although it did irk my mother and I (both violinists, among other types of musician) that it didn't seem everyone was playing their instruments (see Goofs). That was a small goof compared to how good the movie was. I particularly enjoyed the (from what I remember) absence of music unless they were playing. It made the performances more pronounced and didn't give away clues to the audiences like so many other soundtracks do. I also liked the family dynamics between the brothers and how it all worked out in the end. Definitely recommend to anyone, especially of Irish heritage like me Da.