A hunch tells me that the script to 'Round Ireland With A Fridge must have been written amongst laughs, giggles and mass hilarity, probably by a couple - or more - of drunken TV writers, in a pub probably;
RIWAF tells the story of a declining daytime TV star who chooses to go on a bet-inspired hitchhiking trip 'round Ireland dragging a small fridge, at first for no real reason except maybe to get away, then with the purpose of finding himself and tasting long lost freedom.
Along the way he runs into a nice looking girl and then falls in love (yes, i know, you have seen it already).
Besides the lame premise, the main character's voyage of discovery never really develops, and the meat of the story boils down to a bunch of rather not funny sketches. The love interest is visibly forced into the role, and the supporting characters are either badly acted (the radio DJ) or never developed properly (everyone else);
being this ireland and him an englishman, you'd know there would be the pub scene where he comes in the pub and wants a quick pint hurriedly, with the old irish man telling him "we do things slowly here in ireland", later proving this to be a great bit of philosophical advice:
yeah but no, they have that bit but he just walks back out of the pub. no revelation here. no character development. same for the truck driver. the hostel owner. the next hostel owner. the next next hostel owner. the guy in the street. the shop keepers.
then as a stroke of genius the underplayed, understated, underscripted conclusion, and the lame ending that hints (yay!) at a romantic conclusion, for two characters we didn't really know even liked each other. and why.
to be honest, i did laugh a couple times, but more because "its so bad" kind of way; in a way, the film isn't even just a collection of clichés, because these are used by filmmakers as their end result is known and good, even if obvious. this is just a guy travelling in a non-scenic part of ireland with nothing really happening, and small and i dare say underutilized clichés to bind the non consequential scenes together.
take Apocalypse Now. remove the subplot about the colonel. take out the great lines such as "napalm in the morning", and the great scenes such as the choppers with the loudspeakers on the sides. tone down the action, make all the shots close, water down the ... aww, no, Apocalypse Now would still be better.
such a shame, as the film was properly made (production, editing, music and so on), but there is just no real reason to watch it. it's not a comedy, its not a chick flick, its not even a beautiful glide through nature, its a half baked hour and half of nothing with some fat birds and ugly blokes being not any funnier than your mates are when you go down the pub.
scene: not having changed one bit by his trekking adventure, the Man© tries to forget the love interest that doesn't interest him at all and land some bird. he goes on stage to show he's back being cool, but realizes the audience isn't going to like it. so he bounces a golf ball on a golf iron. and thus gets a free pint and then the pub characters whom he befriends are never seen again, he lands the bird but loses her right away, and also screws up a relation he didn't really have with bird n.2
i'm not really sure what is enticing in this story. is it the fridge? is he on a journey of discovery? because if he is, he doesn't discover much of anything. does he get the girl? he doesn't, apparently, nor is he better/worse for it. does he have fun~? i didn't think so, and neither do we.
right.. final vote 5/10 but i know some films worth 3/10 i'd rather watch.
RIWAF tells the story of a declining daytime TV star who chooses to go on a bet-inspired hitchhiking trip 'round Ireland dragging a small fridge, at first for no real reason except maybe to get away, then with the purpose of finding himself and tasting long lost freedom.
Along the way he runs into a nice looking girl and then falls in love (yes, i know, you have seen it already).
Besides the lame premise, the main character's voyage of discovery never really develops, and the meat of the story boils down to a bunch of rather not funny sketches. The love interest is visibly forced into the role, and the supporting characters are either badly acted (the radio DJ) or never developed properly (everyone else);
being this ireland and him an englishman, you'd know there would be the pub scene where he comes in the pub and wants a quick pint hurriedly, with the old irish man telling him "we do things slowly here in ireland", later proving this to be a great bit of philosophical advice:
yeah but no, they have that bit but he just walks back out of the pub. no revelation here. no character development. same for the truck driver. the hostel owner. the next hostel owner. the next next hostel owner. the guy in the street. the shop keepers.
then as a stroke of genius the underplayed, understated, underscripted conclusion, and the lame ending that hints (yay!) at a romantic conclusion, for two characters we didn't really know even liked each other. and why.
to be honest, i did laugh a couple times, but more because "its so bad" kind of way; in a way, the film isn't even just a collection of clichés, because these are used by filmmakers as their end result is known and good, even if obvious. this is just a guy travelling in a non-scenic part of ireland with nothing really happening, and small and i dare say underutilized clichés to bind the non consequential scenes together.
take Apocalypse Now. remove the subplot about the colonel. take out the great lines such as "napalm in the morning", and the great scenes such as the choppers with the loudspeakers on the sides. tone down the action, make all the shots close, water down the ... aww, no, Apocalypse Now would still be better.
such a shame, as the film was properly made (production, editing, music and so on), but there is just no real reason to watch it. it's not a comedy, its not a chick flick, its not even a beautiful glide through nature, its a half baked hour and half of nothing with some fat birds and ugly blokes being not any funnier than your mates are when you go down the pub.
scene: not having changed one bit by his trekking adventure, the Man© tries to forget the love interest that doesn't interest him at all and land some bird. he goes on stage to show he's back being cool, but realizes the audience isn't going to like it. so he bounces a golf ball on a golf iron. and thus gets a free pint and then the pub characters whom he befriends are never seen again, he lands the bird but loses her right away, and also screws up a relation he didn't really have with bird n.2
i'm not really sure what is enticing in this story. is it the fridge? is he on a journey of discovery? because if he is, he doesn't discover much of anything. does he get the girl? he doesn't, apparently, nor is he better/worse for it. does he have fun~? i didn't think so, and neither do we.
right.. final vote 5/10 but i know some films worth 3/10 i'd rather watch.