END OF SENTENCE
Cert 15 ★★★ On digital tomorrow
I’d never heard of this US drama, made in 2019, until last week but I felt like I’d read the plot description countless times before.
After being released from a prison, a young tearaway reluctantly joins his estranged dad on a road trip across Ireland to scatter the ashes of his dead mum in a lake.
I saw two red flags in that plot summary. The first hints at wonky accents and whimsical rural types. I had enough of that nonsense with Wild Mountain Thyme, last week’s American film set in what, mercifully, no character called The Emerald Isle.
The second relates to that scattering of ashes in what would no doubt be a very windy part of the country. As soon as an urn of human remains pops up in a film carrying the slightest comedic intent, you know it’s going to crack open in a supposedly outrageous but actually painfully unfunny way.
Thankfully, and shockingly, End Of Sentence avoids most of the pitfalls of its formulaic set-up. Here, the clash between Logan Lerman’s angry jailbird Sean and his prissy father Frank (John Hawkes) is finely written and even more finely acted.
Their restrained performances mean that by the time we reach Ireland, we are fully invested in their relationship.
There, we find characters who speak like actual Irish people. Although every line isn’t dripping with poetry, they are amusing and rather engaging. And, while we know the trip will force the bickering pair to find common ground, their metaphorical journey is charted with wit and bags of heart.
Weirdly, I didn’t even mind the urn accident.