This film was so enjoyable. It was great fun to name all the names of places we knew, a real nostalgia trip even for those of us who weren't around in 1970s Belfast.
It had two huge problems with it however. Julie Walters and Gina McKee. Did the directors feel that some household names would be useful? Why do they feel the need to insert Julie Walters in to every single 'working class regional woman' role? Their accents were rubbish, slipping into the 'begorras' at every opportunity. Do they even know that a Belfast Protestant and Belfast Catholic accent can sound very different? Julie Walters couldn't even get the intonation right for God's sake, and she was far too old. Gina McKee was a lot better but still left so much to be desired. There is such a healthy arts scene, and no shortage of good actresses in the region, it really disgusted me to see Julie Walters shoved into a role and expect me to accept her performance as any more that mediocre, and patronising in the extreme to expect the Northen Ireland audience to accept her as 'one of their own'.
It had two huge problems with it however. Julie Walters and Gina McKee. Did the directors feel that some household names would be useful? Why do they feel the need to insert Julie Walters in to every single 'working class regional woman' role? Their accents were rubbish, slipping into the 'begorras' at every opportunity. Do they even know that a Belfast Protestant and Belfast Catholic accent can sound very different? Julie Walters couldn't even get the intonation right for God's sake, and she was far too old. Gina McKee was a lot better but still left so much to be desired. There is such a healthy arts scene, and no shortage of good actresses in the region, it really disgusted me to see Julie Walters shoved into a role and expect me to accept her performance as any more that mediocre, and patronising in the extreme to expect the Northen Ireland audience to accept her as 'one of their own'.