Thanks for the memories!

Intense, gripping, stylish and poignant

Excellent but underrated film

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Two estranged brothers who haven't seen each other for 20 years meet up for the annual Irish music festival. They both have ceili bands and will compete for top honors in a traditional Irish music venue. The younger brother has been living in England where he has succeeded in business, while the older brother stayed home on the family farmstead. Colm Meaney plays Jimmy, the younger brother. A romance develops between a boy and girl from either band. There's more to the story, as well. The film has a fine cast, all of whom do well. Bernard Hill was especially good as John Joe, the older of the two brothers. Shooting was on the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, The scenery and pictures of the town and people gathered for the music competitions gives the film a real down-to-earth feel. "The Boys & Girl from County Clare" is a good light comedy drama with some very good doses of music. The ending is a surprise but very good and appropriate. But for some unnecessary nudity of a young woman going for a swim, and frequent use of vulgar language, this would be a good film for the whole family. Here are some favorite lines from the film. John Joe, "It's better to gain a musician than lose a daughter, I always say."On the ferry across to Ireland, Jimmy tells the band that if they don't win, they will have to walk home. Later, one of the boys asks, "Is he serious?" Another boy asks, "About what?" The first lad says, "About us walking home if we lose." The other boy replies, "Didn't you bring your swimming trunks?"

The All Ireland music competitions, called "Fleadh Cheoil" (Flah Keeole)(Music Festival) are still being held every August in the Republic of Ireland. Even though the fleadh in the movie took place in 1966, the depictions of the fleadh are realistic with the streets full of people, the presence of people who have nothing directly to do with the competitions coming to the festivities, competing musicians from overseas,and the musicians playing in sessions.There is a lot of humor in this movie, but also some family drama. The focus is the Ceili Band competitions with the bands of two brothers, one from rural Clare in Ireland and the other from Liverpool, who have had had a feud for over twenty years.I enjoyed both the comedy and the realism of this movie.

I found Andrea Corr stiff in most of her scenes, and she was not comfortable playing the fiddle, most of the time they would do a close up on her face smiling. Andera is a beautiful to look at however she exhibited a limited range in her acting.The acting associated with the music could have been better, it was obvious to me that fiddle players were not playing the instruments, I don't play the fiddle but if was obvious to me. The previews really contained the best parts, there were a couple of surprises and a plot twist at the end, however the musical content could have been more satisfying. Colm Meany's acting consisted of smoking cigarettes and saying F***. Bernard Hill acting was excellent and he really carried the film, he played his character some what low key and really was never developed as a character.There should have been more emphasis on the music. The contest consisted of the bands playing before 6 judges who really displayed no emotional relationship to the music, and the final musical piece the big dance was really confused, the best bit of music was when some band members played with the Hippies in my opinion.

I don't recommend this movie. I'ts not a horrible movie by any means, but there's nothing about it that stands out enough to warrant paying for a theater ticket. The tone and pace of the movie reminded me a lot of The Englishman who Went up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain. The problem with this film is that it doesn't have anything as charming as Hugh Grant.I did like the two main characters who are brothers, long separated. But the rest of the case wasn't charming enough to hold my interest. Plus, this movie had two vomiting scenes, one of which involved false teeth and was really gross.