Damo & Ivor lacks Quirke-y success of TV
WHEN you think of the best Irish comedy shows of the past few years, RTE’s Damo & Ivor may be one of the first to come to mind. The show only ran for two seasons from 2013 to 2014, and was a funny, crude, light-hearted comedy about two contrasting Dublin stereotypes, both played by Irish comedian Andy Quirke.
Damo & Ivor was popular among younger audiences but, it seems, not so popular that fans were left devastated and demanding a new season after it was announced it would finish after season two. It’s obvious that the makers of the film version are trying to tap into the success of the massively popular coming-ofage comedy The Young Offenders, but it doesn’t quite live up to the same quality.
That may be why Damo & Ivor: The Movie gives off more of a ‘the comeback no one asked for’ impression rather than a ‘We’re back in business baby’ feeling.
One thing to take note of before seeing the movie is that you don’t need to have seen the TV show nor know much about it to understand the film, which is a nice touch. It’s always good to appeal to new audiences rather than simply pick up from where you left off.
The plot follows Damo & Ivor as they embark on a crazy journey to find their long lost brother, John-Joe, who they believe is a part of the travelling community.
The writing is crisp and the dialogue very clean, so kudos goes to Quirke himself, along with his fellow writer from the TV series Jules Coll.
The humour itself is mainly inconsistent, nothing too laugh out loud. Some of the jokes themselves come off as a bit cheap too, mainly being comprised of both sexual innuendo and toilet humour. Sometimes this works well, other times it falls flat.
The movie is directed by brothers Rob and Ronan Burke, the duo behind the massively successful Irish crime drama series Red Rock. The acting performances are arguably the film’s strong point, with Quirke brilliantly playing the two titular characters, as well as the third brother JohnJoe. His ability to transition from a stuck-up southsider to a rough northsider and an aggressive traveller is definitely the cornerstone of the whole movie. IFTA-winning actress Ruth McCabe — who has starred in critically acclaimed movies such as My Left Foot and Philomena — gives a strong and comically pleasing supporting actress performance as Grano. Other than her and Quirke’s characters, however, the film seems to lack more likeable people.
Although Damo & Ivor: The Movie does have a good few laughs and witty humour, the film just doesn’t manage to capture the same success that made the series a hit five years ago.