Jack Lynch Movies
- 1996
- R
This is the third film adapted from a fictional trilogy by Irish writer Roddy Doyle about families living in a working-class Dublin neighborhood. The first was director Alan Parker's smashing music mockumentary The Commitments and the second was the hilarious comedy The Snapper, directed by Stephen Frears. Frears also directs this film, which is about two unemployed buddies who convert a dilapidated van into Bimbo's Burgers, a mobile fast-food joint selling fish and chips and hamburgers. Bimbo (Donal O'Kelly) is the brains behind the operation, while his slacker friend Larry (Colm Meany) is his bumbling helper. They first set up shop outside a pub to capture patrons streaming out after watching a telecast of Ireland playing in the World Cup. When Ireland is eliminated, the bumbling entrepreneurs move to a forlorn beach. They get the help of Larry's daughter Diane (Neili Conroy) and son Kevin (Rauidhuri Conroy), who soon becomes so disgusted with the fare that he becomes a vegetarian. ~ Michael Betzold, Rovi
- Starring:
- Colm Meaney, Donal O'Kelly, (more)
- 1994
- PG
Rival groups of boys from two neighboring Irish villages engage in a running battle in this remake of the 1962 French movie of the same name, based on a novel by Louis Pergaud. The boys from Ballydowse, who dress as they please, exchange insults with boys from nearby Carricksdowse -- who wear school uniforms. One day, the Bally gang cuts the buttons off the clothes of a bully in the Carricks gang. The Carricks retaliate by swiping the buttons from the clothes of the leader of the Bally boys, Fergus (Gregg Fitzgerald). The Ballys deface the Carricksdowse church, though both groups are Catholics. They rout the Carricks by charging at them naked. Marie (Eveanna Ryan), who heads the Ballys' girls auxiliary, tries to calm down the boys by raining new buttons on them to replace those lost in warfare. When Fergus' abusive stepfather (Jim Bartley) finds out about the war, he beats Fergus and sends him away. Fergus goes to the cliffs along the valley between the two villages, chased by the Carricks' leader, Geronimo (John Coffey). Geronimo, who has come to help, slips, and Fergus rescues him from a fall. In the end, Fergus, riding a horse, leads his troops, dressed in motley medieval suits, into a final battle. The allegorical anti-war film is primarily aimed at children. ~ Michael Betzold, Rovi
- Starring:
- Liam Cunningham, Gregg Fitzgerald, (more)
The Snapper is Stephen Frears's adaptation of the second book in Roddy Doyle's Barrytown Trilogy. The Curley family is a poor but eccentric and loving Irish family. Oldest daughter Sharon (Tina Kellegher) announces she is pregnant, but refuses to reveal the identity of the father to anyone. Her father, Dessie (Colm Meaney), is supportive, but begins to chafe at the derisive gossip aimed at his family and his daughter. This leads to a confrontation between the two that is, like the rest of the movie, simultaneously funny and sad. The family waits in the hospital as Sharon gives birth to the snapper (Irish slang for an infant). The other books in the Barrytown Trilogy were also adapted into films featuring Colm Meaney as the father: The Commitments, directed by Alan Parker, and The Van, directed by Stephen Frears. Doyle had a hand in the screenplay for all three. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi
- Starring:
- Colm Meaney, Tina Kellegher, (more)
The first mainstream animated feature film directly aimed at African American audiences, Hyperion Productions' Bebe's Kids is based on a comedy routine by the late Robin Harris. Voiced by Faison Love, Harris endures a "date from hell" when he goes out with the lovely Jamika. His romantic rendezvous is ruined when he is stuck with Jamika's son-as well as Bebe's kids, three little horrors spawned from three different fathers. The worst of the batch is unhousebroken baby Peewee. The film manages within its 74 minute timeframe to skewer such topics as Hip-Hop music, urban riots and whitebread theme parks. Further proof that this is not a Disney flick was provided by the folks from the Motion Picture Production Code office, who bestowed a PG-13 rating upon the film. Bebe's Kids was released theatrically in tandem with the cartoon short Itsy Bitsy Spider, which was later spun off into a TV series. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Faizon Love, Vanessa Bell Calloway, (more)
- 1986
- NR
Irish youths Vinnie (Stephen Brennan) and Arthur (Eamon Morrissey) fight their ongoing boredom by running a video print of Elvis Presley's Roustabout. If you've seen that film, you'll remember that at one point, Elvis participates in "The Wall of Death," a dangerous cylindrical motorcycle stunt. Suddenly inspired, Vinnie and Arthur set about constructing their own Wall of Death. Supplies are costly, but the boys are benumbed to reality by their dreams of fame and fortune. Entering the picture (and foredooming the project) is con artist Boots (Niall Toibin), who claims to be an American showman bent upon giving Vinnie and Arthur a spectacular TV showcase. Like the later The Commitments, Eat the Peach deftly blends traditional sour-faced Irish pragmatism with pie-in-the-sky idealism. This time, however, there's no blarney: Eat the Peach is based on a true story! Privately financed in England and Ireland, the film earned good American bookings thanks to the sponsorship of filmmaker Jonathan Demme. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Eamon Morrissey, Stephen Brennan, (more)
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