Hard Times

A small, sleepy Irish town, on wonderful cliffs, some funny characters, a comic plot bursting with gags and sound fun and the movie appeals, in every sense. If you want to enjoy a truly amusing picture, full of humanity, sounding picturesque but never grotesque, take a chance on "Holy water". You will spend 90 minutes in good company, with those realistic and true characters that only movies like these have (see for example the French "Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis" to find a similar authentic cast), not being ruined by Linda Hamilton and company coming from the great Hollywood environment, on the contrary they amalgamate very well, to create a pleasant and always familiar atmosphere. Another enthusiastic, exciting, and authentic Irish-made comedy.

In a sleepy Irish village, nothing much is happening and the only exciting part of everyone's week is when the local band play in the pub. Then with job cuts and no prospects of financial security, local postman, Podger Burns (Cornelius Clarke), hatches a plan to hijack a shipment of Viagra and together with his band-mates (John Lynch, Lochlainn O Mearin, Cian Barry), the heist is set in motion. This is a fun film. It reminded me a little of A Fish Called Wanda, Waking Ned and many of the old Ealing Comedies. Full of Irish character actors, bursting with charm, good performances, this is an ideal way to spend 90 minutes. There are some truly comic moments and the dialogue cracks along. There's something for everyone here.

Somehow this film just never got into its stride.

There was nothing to identify with.

The village had no shape. The camera just shuffled between walls and around random doorways as did the cast, where the charm of the village was constantly referred to.

It got off to a really slow start with a stilted script worthy of a 6th form play.

The cast seemed awkward as if they had only been together for a week or so, with no chemistry between them all at all.

The Irish famously blend humour with charm and great timing. This film had none of this.

It could have been a bit of a gem given hard work, dedication, self reflexive humour and actual comic timing. Very disappointing.

This is a great movie for a rainy Tuesday evening. It's not a masterpiece and the storyline has no great dept but the actors are putting in a great effort to make this movie enjoyable.

It does start a bit slow but picks up speed towards the end. If you however are one for bold American comedies, this is not for you. It's more a giggle here and there. That fact that there is a happy ending (no pun intended) that is rather unbelievable but wholesome nonetheless helps. It did rush through the last bit though and after the slow start in the beginning I sort of expected more. Good bit of fun though.

This movie turned out to be better than I had anticipated. I thought it was just going to be yet another comedy. But "Holy Water" is more than just your average comedy.

The story was good and catchy right from the beginning, and it just got better and better as the story progressed throughout the movie. The characters in the movie were well fleshed out and had lots of depth.

As for the cast. Well nothing to point your fingers at here. Although they did have fairly big names like Linda Hamilton and Tony "Tiny" Lister, the movie would have worked even without their names on the list.

Well, it is not the kind of comedy that will leave you laughing yourself breathless, but it got enough satire and 'out there' comedy to keep you amused throughout the entire movie.

If you are in for an evening, "Holy Water" is a good choice for a movie to watch. Though you should know that they are speaking English with heavy Irish accent, but that fact shouldn't keep movie fans at bay.