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Irish Wishmarks Lindsay Lohan’s second romantic comedy with Netflix. Signed to a multi-picture deal, she’ll have at least one more,Our Little Secret, expected later this year. The first film,Falling For Christmas, had some charm simply for being set during Christmas. But it played it so safe. It didn’t take any chances, and seemed hesitant to go for anything fun. Unfortunately,Irish Wishclosely follows suit.
Irish WishPlot
Lohan plays Maddie, an book editor. She has recently finished working on a book with charming author Paul Kennedy (Alexander Vlahos). Over their time working together, Maddie has fallen in love with Paul, but has not been able to muster the courage to tell him. On the night of the book release, she decides to go for it. But before she can, Paul meets and hits it off with Maddie’s friend Emma (Elizabeth Tan). It’s not long before Emma and Paul are engaged, and the group is off to Ireland, to Paul’s family estate, for the wedding.
While on a walk by herself, Maddie finds an Irish Wishing Chair, and makes a wish that she is the one marrying Paul. She wakes up the next day to find that her wish came true. She thinks she now has everything she wanted, but when she meets photographer James (Ed Speelers), she begins to wonder if Paul actually is the man she’s meant to be with.
Irish WishCritique
It’s hard to really tear into a movie likeIrish Wish. It lines up pretty closely with the (to be fair, incredibly popular) Hallmark Christmas movies. They’re simple, charming, and wholesome, a “comfort” genre, if you will. They’re not necessarily made to be good in the same way other movies are. There are different goals in mind withIrish Wishthan there are with so-called prestige movies, or even other, bigger romantic comedies likeAnyone But You, for a recent example.
And Netflix has made their fair share of these types of movies over the years. I’ve even liked several of them, heavily flawed though they may be. In particular, theChristmas PrinceandPrincess Switchseries are absolute riots. Are they “good” movies? Definitely not. But they’refun. The plots are ridiculous, they’re campy at times, the cast fully buys into the silliness and plays it up at every chance.
Irish Wishdoesn’t have any of that. It has the fantasy, alternate reality hook, but then doesn’t do anything with it. Maddie adjusts to her new reality fairly quickly, and there are only a few moments where the movie deals with how crazy and disorienting this would actually be. Obviously this adjustment can’t take up too much of the movie’s time, but give us something here. Or at least interject little moments throughout that play with this aspect.
The whole wish coming true aspect doesn’t even feel necessary to the plot. It’s a fun hook, but it essentially gets abandoned as soon as it’s introduced. The plot might have just as well been Maddie actually getting married to Paul, only to start second guessing her decision as the wedding approaches. It goes generic at every turn, zapping any potential creativity from the story.
Also read:Monkey Man SXSW Review: Dev Patel’s Directorial Debut Has Awesome Action
Irish Wishdoesn’t even have good jokes to help prop up the weak story. Most of the jokes feel only like setups to or ideas for jokes, without ever actually putting together a full joke. That might have also been a factor of the cast. No one is outright terrible, especially with the bland story and characters they were all working within. But it’s not a cast that’s full of performers who can elevate what’s on the pages from their sheer talent alone.
That being said, Lohan and Speelers work well together, and a couple of their more serious scenes are actually quite well done. But no one else in the cast stands out. Every character is as generic and “rom-com tropey” as they come. And just like with the jokes, the cast isn’t strong enough to overcome this to any degree. The one exception might be Jane Seymour as Maddie’s mom. But her character is so thinly written that even Seymour’s best efforts can only do so much.
Outside of Lohan and Speelers – and honestly maybe even ahead of them – the best thingIrish Wishhas going for it is that it was actually filmed in Ireland. It gets some easy points just from showing off some of Ireland’s beautiful landscapes. In particular there are a few gorgeous shots at the Cliffs of Moher. This is not a hot take by any means, but movies should film on location if budget and logistics allow for it. They will almost universally be better off for it.
But filming on location is supposed to add to the movie. It’s not often going to be a signature focus or key strength of a film. If it is, that usually won’t be a good sign.
In Conclusion
Irish Wishis about what you’ve likely come to expect from these types of Netflix rom-coms. It’s a simple story that doesn’t take any risks. That strategy can work, if it’s well made, with a solid script, strongly written characters, and enough jokes and romance peppered in.Irish Wishcan’t claim any of that, save for a handful of romantic or more personal scenes between Maddie and James. That’s enough to keep it from being a complete disaster, but only just.
On the flip side though, it also feels like this is exactly the movie Netflix wanted. Something straight down the middle, completely innocent that won’t offend anyone. I think they should aim (quite a bit) higher, but this is the movie they were going for. So good for them, I guess?
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Matt Hambidge
Film Critic
Articles Published :119
Matt Hambidge is a film critic based in Minneapolis, and is a member of the Minnesota Film Critics Alliance.You can also find him covering SURVIVOR on the Talking Llama podcast.
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