Tries and fails to juggle humor, sentimentality and political correctness with its punk war cry.
Comment
03/03/05
Rory O'Shea Was Here (2005)
49
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:69
Fresh:34
Rotten:35
Average Rating:5.8/10
Consensus: The dramatic aspects of Rory O'Shea Was Here veer into mawkish, formulaic sentiment, which undercuts the characters' individuality.
Runtime: 1 hr 45 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: The winner of the Audience Award at the 2004 Edinburgh International Film Festival, Rory O'Shea Was Here is an extraordinary story of determination that fuses highly emotional drama with bracingly... [More]
Starring: Steven Robertson, James McAvoy, Romola Garai, Brenda Fricker
Director: Damien O'Donnell
Reviews for Rory O'Shea Was Here
...but that’s not enough to drag yourself or your loved ones to the cinema.
02/27/05
Director Damien O'Donnell and his terrific cast lend the film authenticity by quickly retreating whenever the proceedings threaten to get too cloying or sappy.
02/27/05
It's a nice effort, enlivened by the work of McAvoy. His O'Shea is a memorable rebel who keeps self-pity at bay with good humor, and the occasional pint of Guinness.
02/25/05
It addresses the essential human need for dignity, for freedom, for mastery over one's life.
02/24/05
The script, despite doses of irreverent humour, feels manipulative...
02/19/05
Funny and moving, and more entertaining than some of the movies you are considering this weekend.
02/18/05
Top CriticFor all its noble intentions and vigorous performances, never transcends the claustrophobic character study.
02/18/05
McAvoy has an impudent face, twinkling blue eyes and an irresistibly wry delivery. On the basis of his charm, he could single-handedly sell the movie. But his Rory has hidden dimensions as well, most of which we don't grasp until quite late in the game.
02/18/05
Sweet and deeply moving.
02/18/05
By all outward appearance and promotional literature, this movie wishes to depict the lives of seriously handicapped people in as real and accurate a way as possible. So why does it resort to some of the most insultingly lame clichés imaginable?
02/18/05
While the film tries to tell a good story and illuminate various issues for the handicapped at the same time, the third act slides into the maudlin, and that would be the extra-strength Irish maudlin at that, with its hint o' blithering blarney.
02/18/05
There's little to emotionally involve the viewer, though the ending is meant to pull at the heartstrings.
02/18/05
Rory O’Shea Was Here certainly isn’t the most cloying of the handicapped dramas but doesn’t earn the special status it’s fighting for.
02/17/05
As a feel-good movie about disabled youths, Rory O'Shea Was Here gets the job done, but it isn't interesting or daring enough to make it worth a trip to a theater.
02/17/05
A movie friendship to haunt our thoughts and inspire our deeds long after the details of the plot have flown from our memories.
02/17/05
Sentimentality and gloom are treated with appropriate, if often unprintable, contempt.
02/17/05
Director Damien O'Donnell and screenwriter Jeffrey Caine faithfully adhere to the bylaws of melodrama and quickly plunge us from triumph to tragedy.
02/17/05
...the life that goes out of the film in its final scenes confirms the lack of [James] McAvoy's spirited presence
02/07/05
[T]hough it’s more than a tad conventional... there is still much to recommend the film...
02/06/05
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