When Brendan Met Trudy

For his first original screenplay Roddy Doyle subverts the romantic comedy genre and still manages to write a film that appeals to both subversives and rom com fans.

Roddy Doyle was a teacher who loved music and film, just like Brendan, but it would be a mistake - and libellous - to read this as autobiography. In a typical opposites attract tale Brendan is an innocent devoted to singing hymns and cinema, while Trudy is a not-so-innocent with a mysterious night life.

This film is as much of a love story with cinema as it is a love story between Brendan and Trudy. The opening echoes Sunset Boulevard's opening and other films also feature - although budgetary constraints meant that Doyle's wish list of films to license couldn't be granted. The quoting of films both visually and verbally has the potential to get on your nerves but here it is wonderfully and wittily done and always relevant to the story. Although, to be honest, the A Bout De Souffle sequence does push it just a bit too far. Watch out also for fake film posters and titles in the background which give a sly hilarious comment about film.

The eponymous leads are wonderfully played by Peter McDonald and Flora Montgomery and according to the director he had to argue to the financiers to allow Montgomery to have the role as she wasn't famous enough. If a brilliant screenplay by one of the world's most popular writers needs stars to get it made then the world has indeed gone mad.

When Brendan Met Trudy is very funny and has a good compelling story that will surprise. It is highly recommended.