Rat

When the father of a Dublin family is transformed into a rat, the family dynamic changes not at all! The daughter is still Daddy's Little Girl, the son -- Pius! -- is piously creepy, his vocation to the priesthood notwithstanding, and the mother alternates (as usual) between wild-eyed outrage and sentimental tears. Writer, director and cast all seem to be making the same movie -- a dissection of some of the more peculiar aspects of the Irish "character" with some of the insight of Huston's/Joyce's THE DEAD -- and even more laughs. Imelda Staunton is devastatingly funny as the mother who views her husband's transformation as just the latest in a series of crosses she's had to bear.

Certainly this movie is not for all tastes, and I can imagine that some viewers would be simply baffled. It helps if you DO understand (sort of) why anyone would name their son "Pius." But if you're Irish-American and have mixed feelings (are there any other kind?) about your "heritage," just sit back and enjoy!

Rat

Hubert Flynn (Pete Postlethwaite) has had a hard day on his bread delivery round. and so, stops off for a pint on the way home to Kimmage – to wife Conchita (Imelda Staunton), daughter Marietta (Kerry Condon) and his saintly son Pius (Andrew Lovern). Inevitably one pint becomes a ‘few'. He's also under the weather. Daisy Farrell's (Veronica Duffy) expert diagnosis from the snug is Asiatic flu. Back home, with Conchita giving him some of her mind, Hubert wants only to go to bed. But Hubert hasn't the flu. There he metamorphoses into a rat.

Initially normality reigns in the Flynn household in this freak circumstance of Hubert as rat. He's a bit picky about his food and the family unsure of rat habits, but widely read Uncle Matt (Frank Kelly) proves expert on all things rodent.

But journalist Phelim Spratt (David Wilmot) worms his way into the home with a plan for a book, a film, a book of the film … However the satanic entrepreneurial approach is a Pandora's box and sets the film off in glorious chase of the punchline.

Wesley Burrows' screenplay is in the tradition of the farce – a comic creation built around exaggeration of character and event, extremes of personality and occasion; soaked in satire and nonsense; action-driven, leading to the climactic joke that is the point of the piece.

But the punchline is not the whole point. Farce should also have a point of view. Without unveiling the joke, how ought we to respond to ‘freaks', ‘aliens in our midst'? Burn them? Expel them? Exploit them? Accept them?

Director Steve Barron and his cast carry off Burrows' farce with verve (with Imelda Stauntion in splendid form) according to the rules of the genre – including hilariously developing the moral debates.

I've always found popular Irish comedies like `Waking Ned Devine' to be either overkill on the charm, or like `The Van', to be overkill on the sardonic wit. This film truly nails the balance of charm and sardonic wit, and it also has an energy that I haven't seen since `A Hard Day's Night'. Bob Geldof –formerly of The Boomtown Rats (!) – was the musical consultant, and the score is mixed with bouncy pop songs in the background that seem to recall the joy of that era. The film opens with a fable-like narration letting us know that we're into the kind of Irish story-telling that is of its past (i.e. deliciously wicked!). Personally, I'm grateful to see this kind of story-telling still alive and not reflective of the new generic Ireland that's looking more and more like the USA. There already is a `Babe' and a `Stuart Little', so why make those films over again? This film stands on its own, and it can certainly entertain adults every bit as much as kids. I found it to be one of the funniest films I've seen in years! The key to much of the humour is in its subtlety. One definitely has to have a love of the absurd in its most subtle form (like one of my favourite scenes, when the desperately ill rat is thrown in the washing machine so it will look nice and clean when the priest comes to exorcise it). The cast is magnificent, especially Imelda Staunton whose personality is more rat-like than her husband, but can switch emotional gears faster than her husband can scamper across the floor. And of course, Pete Postlethwaite does actually look like he's `half-way there already' in terms of his physical appearance. I couldn't imagine anyone else in the role. A sweeter rat you've never seen!

This movie is despicable. It's bad-humored. It's extremely painful. It's discouraging. I went to bed so disappointed and angry I thought I'd have night terrors.

It could have been so good! I don't know how you mess up a plot the way they did! The crew had to consist of the least funny people in the world! There isn't a single character and not a single joke.

It's baffling!

Love every minute of it. Perhaps a little too irish in the dialect but awesome in story telling. Despite the fact there is an A** in here, kids should have no problem with it. It's so weird that it tells it as if this is all normal. Gee so your father turned into a rat. Something normal for ye.

9/10

Quality: 10/10 (kicka** camera shots) Entertainment: 9/10 Replayable: 10/10