Joyride

I enjoyed the varied pace and well played characters. The young man was a convincing actor and his character, Mully, had a good heart. The conflicted Joy was performed truthfully by Olivia Coleman, although the accent slipped once or twice. She was only about 47 when she played Joy, an age when many women are still capable of conceiving a baby! The father was a little two dimensional, fixated on the acquisition of money, not being a loving parent, and seemingly not grieving his deceased wife. The story was filled with many of the contradictions and tribulations common in life. It was genuine to those dichotomies and still had a hopeful ending.

An enjoyable romp through the ever picturesque Irish countryside. Olivia Colman is as engagingly watch-worthy as ever playing Joy, the mother of a one-week-old baby. Having never wanted children of her own, Joy intends to give the baby away to her sister in an informal adoption arrangement. We meet Joy asleep in a taxi en route to deliver the baby to her sister.

Charlie Reid is the breakout talent as Mully, a young teen bereaved by the recent death of his mother, and whose father is a petty thief and general low-level scumbag. Reid is an absolute scene stealer throughout this film - and a taxi stealer when we first encounter him. He commandeers the vehicle not realising it has two sleeping passengers in the back seat in the form of Joy and her baby.

Some hilarity ensues. And a bit of weirdness. With a little darkness and a touch of tragedy thrown in. All against a beautifully shot County Kerry backdrop.

Although this film was released on Netflix in summer 2024, watching it evoked a bit of a Netflix-Christmas-movie vibe for me. It was a little cheesy, totally unbelievable and surprisingly emotional in places but, overall, a very pleasant hour-and-half's escape from real life.

Colman does a 'grand job so' delivering her performance in a very decent Irish accent. And seeing comedian Tommy Tiernan pop up in an unexpected cameo to randomly play the Home and Away theme tune on a penny whistle was an absolute bonus.

I'm surprised by the harshness of some of the other reviews. Although there are some fairly big-hitting themes touched on throughout the story, the film doesn't get into them in any depth. Likewise, there are potential sub-plots and character back stories that are hinted at, but not really explored in detail. Perhaps that has left some viewers feeling frustrated or a bit short-changed.

Overall, a very easy and enjoyable watch if you're looking for a bit of light, diversionary entertainment.

I watched this on my flight home from England, and I cried so many times just from being so emotionally invested. It was charming, raw, and endearing. It was a real testimony to how humans of any age need someone they can lean on and trust. That someone just supporting you can get you through. I found this to be a beautiful, heartfelt film. Olivia was AMAZING as always, and I wept watching her struggle to let her guard down and to let herself welcome love. I don't understand the low reviews, unless you just do not understand what the story was trying to portray. There was a wholesome juxtaposition of a young boy forced to care for himself and be tough, while deep down missing his loving mother..and a woman forced into motherhood, unsure that she has what it takes to give her baby the love and care she needs. I found it beautiful in how simple it was.

Joyride

Overall this was a mixed bag of a movie. On the one hand it attempted to be profound with comments on parenting, childhood baggage, what it means to be a mother and sometimes blood is not thick than water, and then attempted humour in a farcical vane.

The script struggled and showed little emotional intelligence, connecting with another human being does not a parent make. You could see the actors struggling with the often stilted script, which fell apart in the denouement.

To believe the contrived happy ending was absurd and I certainly wasn't convinced. The acting was at best pedestrian and at it worst performative.

This is barely watchable so I'm giving it a 4 outta 10, with Olivia not all that glitters comes in the shape of an Oscar statuette.

Saw the trailer for it & thought I'd give it a go. It was a bit slow at some points but overall, it was a good enough film. All Irish films have something about them that makes the likeable.