The Most Fertile Man in Ireland

The Most Fertile Man in Ireland revolves around Eamon Manley who is 24 year old and still happens to be a virgin. He lives with his mother in Belfast. He is also a very shy guy towards women. Everything has changes for Eamon when he is seduced by a woman(as far as I can remember a neighbour). It is not because he looses his virginity but he discovers that he has a super power. Despite having protection, this neighbour becomes pregnant. He is told by the doctor that he has very high sperm count. His mother brilliantly comes up with an idea which makes us see ginger headed babies all around in the end of the film. He starts helping out women in both side of Belfast to conceive babies. First voluntarily then with the help of his colleague runs a business out of it. The Most Fertile Man in Ireland has its funny moments but needed to come up with better jokes and with a better script. I couldn't help thinking that it gave me the impression of a TV sitcom rather than a movie. Kris Marshall is a different name on the silver screen but does not shine as star. It's more like the guy you saw in such and such movie. Like him being in Love Actually(I think he was very funny in that one)..Well, it was okay to watch but couldn't help dozing off from time to time. ** out of *****

Dont take it seriously. It's a fun movie. Have a laugh and forget about the world for 90 minutes

I found this film very funny and easy to watch, I suppose really it would be classed as a romantic comedy. Its all set in Belfast and perhaps the fact that that's where I'm from is what made it appeal to me so much. Its a great story which incorporates many facets of life in Belfast without being heavy going, rather it pokes fun at them. The majority of the cast certainly sound as if they are from N.Ireland, although the lead role is an English guy - but his Belfast accent is pretty good, and definitely doesn't detract from the film at all. I was surprised by the low ratings others have given this film and can only guess that they didn't get the Belfast humour in it.

Eamon Manley (Marshall), a 24-year-old Irish Catholic virgin, works in a dating agency, while silently dreaming of melancholy funeral parlour worker Rosemary (Clarke). Following a night of (heavily protected) passion with a good-time gal, the geek discovers that, in these times of male infertility, his sperm could "impregnate a stone".

Now in demand from infertile couples the length and breadth of Ireland, and backed by a test tube-eschewing Catholic Church, he soon makes a packet with colleague Millicent (Gallagher) - until paramilitary headcase 'Mad Dog' Billy Wilson (Nesbitt) decides Catholics are outbreeding Protestants, and forcibly recruits him for a 'numbers war'.

"The Most Fertile Man in Ireland... is Coming!" chortled the teaser posters, belying a severe case of coitus interruptus. Originally due for release in September 2000 (the film was made back in 99), a number of ill-fated distribution deals put the kibosh on The Most Fertile Man In Ireland, until director Dudi Appleton's debut finally reached third base in Ireland in 2002 - a year later in the UK.

Based on late-night conversations between scriptwriter Keeble and pals about "what it is to be a man", this was originally intended as a dark satire about a messiah-cum-superhero in present day Belfast - morphing into a lightweight, if uneven farce about a man who's anything but. On the plus side, Marshall, star of Middle England's favourite sitcom 'My Family', does imbue his (admittedly one-note) role with a winning mix of gormless pathos and knockabout good-humour, ably supported by Nesbitt, in full-on panto villain mode.

Predictably, the complex issue of the Troubles is reduced to a mere comic backdrop (represented by alternating portraits of the Pope and HRH, indicating Eamon's visits to Catholic or Protestant households), jarring with the screwball romance. Also a sombre third act sits uneasily with previous hi-jinks, investing its cast with unexplored depths. Nevertheless, an interesting premise from a first time director, showing plenty of promise.

It's a well-known fact that around the world the sperm count in the human male is on the decrease. Eamon (Kris Marshall) a red-headed Irish Catholic after due consideration decides with the help of his mother he could help some of the couples who desperately want children. Like a door-to-door salesman he delivers the goods and the wives are ecstatic as they soon become pregnant. Eamon in his simple way considers he is helping to build up the ailing population and even the church authorities give him their blessing as he produces more catholics.

This is a somewhat immoral tale but in the same way that they say sex should be fun this film approaches the subject of sex and fertility in a light-hearted and humorous way. It does tend to become a little repetitive as he goes about knocking on the neighbours' doors. Eamon seems to enjoy the work and he agrees with his mother that money can be made out of this rewarding exercise. But when he falls in love, his attitude changes. And why not? He now has new duties.

The ending is rather predictable when the camera roams among the many babies.....all red-headed, of course!