WILD MOUNTAIN THYME (12A)
★★✩✩✩
In 1988, playwright John Patrick Shanley deservedly won an Oscar for his original screenplay to the romantic comedy Moonstruck starring Cher as an Italian-american widow with a passion for Puccini.
Lightning fails to strike twice in this misfiring slice of Irish whimsy adapted by writerdirector Shanley from his 2014 Broadway play Outside Mullingar.
As a spirited young girl growing up on her family’s farm,
Rosemary Muldoon (Abigail Coburn) listens to Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake with her father (Don Wycherley). He convinces his daughter she is a white swan and “can do anything”.
Years later, Rosemary (now played by Emily Blunt) hankers for neighbour Anthony Reilly (Jamie Dornan), who is reluctant
to reciprocate her advances.
Anthony’s ageing father Tony (Christopher Walken) fears his only child will never marry and the Reilly clan’s 121-year history of working the land will die with the next generation. As such, Tony proposes bequeathing the farm to his American nephew, Adam (Jon Hamm).
Rosemary is furious Anthony should be denied his birthright.
As matters come to a head, Tony has a heart-to-heart with his boy and reassures Anthony: “I have faith love will find you in those fields when you want her.”
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