Lindsay movie’s Wishful thinking

IT’S BEY MíLE FáILTE

IRISH Wish got off to a good start.

The new movie, starring Lindsay Lohan, wasn’t full of paddywhackery The stars played Americans on holiday, meaning no painful accents.

The phone numbers had the correct international codes. The Guinness was poured properly.

The scenes were filmed in the actual locations they were set. But the geography let it down. Lindsay and co traveled from Knock Airport in the west of Ireland to the Cliffs of Moher in Co Clare and Lough Tay in Co Wicklow all in one day. A journey of six hours and over 250 miles.

It’s possible to do it but no tourist would sight-see in opposite sides of the country on the same day.

Then again, Americans think every place in Ireland is close to one another. Ireland fits into the state of Texas eight times over so such a journey is a hop, skip and jump for Americans. Maybe they were just making the most of their time on the Emerald

Isle.

It never recovered after lockdown. The city was empty and the social issues of homelessness, addiction and poverty, which have existed there for decades, seemed much more prevalent.

There is no hustle and bustle of workers coming into the city and shops that tried so hard to reopen during the coronavirus crisis closed for good.

It’s not a place to be late at night nor a must-visit place for tourists who want to see the best of Ireland.

BEYONCE is about to release her first country music LP.

And Irish people, who are no strangers to country music, are in for a special treat.

One song on Cowboy Carter is called Riverdance, a nod to the show featuring traditional Irish music and dance made famous by the Eurovision.

Another is called Blackbird, the same name as Lord of the

Dance Michael Flatley’s debut movie.

Artists take inspiration from all kinds of places. But this nation’s music and dance wasn’t anticipated to be on the radar of such a superstar.