Extra Ordinary

py2006

This looks interesting, its an Irish made supernatural comedy.

"Rose, a sweet, lonely driving instructor in rural Ireland, is gifted with supernatural abilities. Rose has a love/hate relationship with her ‘talents’ & tries to ignore the constant spirit related requests from locals - to exorcize possessed rubbish bins or haunted gravel. But! Christian Winter, a washed up, one-hit-wonder rock star, has made a pact with the devil for a return to greatness! He puts a spell on a local teenager- making her levitate. Her terrified father, Martin Martin, asks Rose to help save his daughter. Rose has to overcome the fear of her supernatural gift & work with Martin to save the girl, get the guy and be home in time for a light snack...maybe a yogurt or something..."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giRSRNxCsII

branie2

Looks good

pixelburp

A 'proper' trailer for this has turned up, and it looks ... interesting. Some distinctly 'Irish' vibes coming from the trailer, but the budget looks decent (presumably thanks to the presence of Will Forte, inexplicably?? Presumably that's the marketing angle for US distribution!) and the story broader than typical Irish cinema guff:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZoSGESAXnU

safetyboy

Seen it in the Galway fleadh and won the best film award, Its hilarious and very well made with an amazing soundtrack.

gmisk

Saw it today.....it was ok...not brilliant for me.
Higgins was good fun, some funny little bits and well made but I didn't find it consistently funny.
Claudia o Doherty and will forte were totally wasted.
6/10

JP Liz V1

Is Maeve Higgins the cook comedian?

gmisk

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

Is Maeve Higgins the cook comedian?

I think her and her sister had a comedy show with cooking but the sister was the cook in it

JP Liz V1

gmisk wrote: »

I think her and her sister had a comedy show with cooking but the sister was the cook in it

I didn't realise they were two

Banjaxed82

I might have to watch it again. Maybe it was the 8 people in the cinema, but the humour felt like it wasnt landing more often than not.

BUT I do I think the last act was amazingly ridiculous and funny. There's an element where I wish the tone of the last half an hour was more present in the previous hour.

I quite like Higgins, but she's not an actor. In the same way that Dermot Morgan wasn't the greatest actor in Father Ted but for some reason it still worked. She's very likeable and funny in the role.

Kind of wish I seen it with a bigger crowd now. Does have the potential for cult status.

pixelburp

Yeah, I hadn't realised this was out Friday, though mostly 'cos my film podcasts tend to be UK / US based. I'm surprised this doesn't even have a parallel UK release (maybe it does & it'll be out later).

Saw plenty of bus adverts, but seems like that's the default for Irish films (heck, even trash like Charlie Casanova had a solid bus-ad campaign )

spurious

Saw this in the Odeon's Screen Unseen last month where it got a great reception. Looking forward to seeing it again.

johnny_ultimate

Disappointed that this just didn’t hit the spot for me. I like a lot of the individual ingredients - Higgins, O’Doherty, the badass production design - but (to borrow a film appropriate reference) it all never got out of first gear for me.

There was a flatness to everything that kept me at a distance throughout. I don’t mean just the deadpan delivery of Higgins et al, but the jokes or the thrills never landed as they were meant to be. Some of that is maybe awkward editing; some of it might be an over ambitious debut feature that wanted to fit in everything at the expense of pace and timing. Whatever the case, there was a definite lack of spark that kept me at a remove. Don’t think the mix between quirky innocence and odd moments of overt crudeness really worked either. O’Doherty and Forte are both cursed with weak material, which doesn’t help their scenes one bit. Think the latter drifted too far into pantomime territory for even material this silly. Higgins, though, is a confident lead and hopefully she’ll get more roles like this.

What I will say to the film’s credit is that it looks great for a low budget Irish film (mostly - there was one levitation scene where I’m pretty sure I could see the metal rest holding the character up :pac:). They pay attention to what matters, and the widescreen imagery is full of colour. Hell, they make good use out of just bathing the characters in red light occasionally. They perhaps overstep their limits in the finale, but credit for an Irish comedy that at least looks great on a big screen. Disappointed the film didn’t work for me overall, but I’m sure all involved are capable of really good things.

branie2

I saw it this evening, and I thought it was very funny.

homerun_homer

I must admit I really enjoyed this for what it was worth. For a first film I can think of a lot worse but the look and cinematography has to be commended for not looking like your typical low budget Irish movie.

Most of the comedy was a bit lite, but it's quaint in it's own way. The problem is that it no doubt won't lend itself well to repeat watches. Sometimes I just wish it raised the comedy stakes instead of playing it dry for a lot of it. Worst line has to be Higgins "I never read it" reaction to Ghostbusters. No one is falling for that.

I loved Will Fortamming it up, and would loved to have seen Claudia O'Doherty's character fleshed out better as the annoying wife but still enjoyed her in the film. Barry Ward really hits a stride toward the end when he's at his funniest

he starts getting possessed by his dead wife.

Unfortunately Maeve Higgins is the weakest link, and I think that's largely down to her dry delivery throughout. Ultimately she is fine in it, but I think the film would be elevated by a livelier performance.

All in all I think it's a strong comedic Irish debut that looks great on the screen. I hope the makers go from strength to strength from here.

pixelburp

As reductionist as it might be, it's hard not to assess this as a mix between Father Ted & Ghostbusters; I'm only bumping the thread because I'll always applaud any filmmakers that try to produce an Irish genre film, fighting against a market suffocated by Domestic Realism, or wallowing riffs on Angela's Ashes. Instead, as the previous comparison suggests, this was a playful supernatural comedy that was both utterly, unrepentantly daft in the mould of that iconic Channel 4 comedy, but sweet & earnest too with a likeable cast.

It also deserves props for containing that most rare of pearls: a "middle aged" romance at its centre of its story, the two leads both innocently affable and self-aware in a manner many younger star-crossed lovers plots are not. The production itself is worth noting: while probably small, the budget was stretched enough to convey its lowball hauntings through effective CGI, while the direction had an off-kilter, eccentric feel to give the colourful, spooky compositions some comedic vibrancy. The only bum note was possibly Will Forte, presumably the "big catch" in the production & ostensible headline star, who didn't really work as the films antagonist. His own approach to the comedy never quite gelled, clashing with the Irish casts' tone, sometimes breaking the spell.

Just wish more filmmakers got a chance to make these kind of offbeat, genre films, instead of the invariable Misery Porn.