Wild About Harry

What a pleasure this was. A well written, well crafted piece of black comedy which demonstrates the fact that a fine story and emotive acting can make up for a lack of big budget sets and effects. Filmed on location (with good effect) in Northern Ireland, 'Wild About Harry' tells the tale of Harry McKee, an aging lothario who combines his job as a TV chef with a life of drunken parties and seducing his female fans. As you would imagine, this does not bode well for his marriage to long suffering wife Ruth, who has set divorce proceedings in motion. Before the hearing though, Harry gets attacked by thugs and ends up in a coma.

When he awakes, he has 'lost' 25 years of memory and thinks he is an 18 year old, clean living, boy with his whole life ahead of him. What follows is a keenly observed story of how life can sometimes give you a second chance to repair any mistakes you've made. 'Wild About Harry' is based on a book by superb local author Colin Bateman, and anyone who has read any of his work will know that there are plenty of colourful characters, situations and lines to enjoy. We need more films like this to refresh the soul from the usual Hollywood pap !

Northern Irish TV chef Harry has a history of playing around, being drunk and fighting with his wife. On the eve of his divorce hearing, Harry is beaten up at a garage but goes to work the next day. Acting increasingly disorientated and unusual he finally slips into a coma. Coming out of the coma later, Harry thinks he is 18 and can't remember anything past that. His wife doesn't tell him what a total s*** he has been and tries to form him into a better person. But when Harry discovers his recent past he is shaken and tries to carry on as normal.

When I saw this advertised I saw the great cast and wanted to see it immediately. The plot didn't sound too great – how many `kid in adult's body' things have we seen – and this one sounded like a recipe (sorry) for disaster. The opening scenes are funny, with a great joke at the expense of the sheer horror of daytime TV, but it soon turns into sentimentality that doesn't always work. The central relationship between Harry and Ruth doesn't always convince but it is OK and mostly avoids being syrupy despite being a bit sentimental.

The sub-plot about the disgraced politician is just plain silly and is clearly a very silly idea whose sole purpose is to create some sort of climax to the main romance. It simply doesn't work and just adds to the feeling that this is a film that began with an idea but wasn't fully developed and, as a result, has too many bits that simply don't work very well.

The great cast is mostly wasted. Gleeson is on good form and is an enjoyable character in the lead. Donohoe is also good and her accent is pretty good despite slipping occasionally. Dunbar is a good actor but has little to do here in a small role. Nesbit is a great actor from my hometown of Coleraine. Sadly here he plays the absurd disgraced politician who is ruined by Harry on live TV – it's a silly role and the only thing that it does for Nesbit's career is that it shows he'll do any old tat! `Cheer's' Wendt is funny in a small role as Harry's producer and is typical of a well known and talented cast.

It's a shame that they are pretty much wasted in a daffy plot that mixes a good idea with some touches that simply don't work. At heart this is a romance with potential but it has too many bits that are half baked although much of the central romance is enjoyably sweet without being overly sickly sweet.

The idea of amnesia offering you a chance to rebuild your life has been explored in films such as 'Amateur' and 'The Red Squirrel', and is also the subject of this movie. I'm not sure how realistic the medical symptoms are in any of these movies, but it makes for a nice premise, and the take here is particularly ingenious: a famous but awful man loses his memories of his entire married life just as his wife is about to (quite deservedly) divorce him. Unfortunately, although this is a sprightly movie, it's also a silly one, and most of its conceits are paper-thin. It's still fun to watch, though, in spite of its lightweight build.

This movie is great! Great humour, terrific acting, lovely Irish accents, relaxing, romantic, sexy... What else do you want? It made me feel happy.

This is a wonderful film, beautifully, filmed, acted and directed. Just buy it, and you will have a film that you can watch time and time again. A story mixing comedy, tragedy, and insight, not letting each take anything away from the other. One of the best films I have seen in a long time.