The MatchMaker (1997 film)

Infobox Film
name = The Matchmaker


caption = DVD Cover
director = Mark Joffe
producer = Tim Bevan Eric Fellner Luc Roeg
writer = Karen Janszen Louis Nowra Graham Linehan
starring = Janeane Garofalo David O'Hara Milo O'Shea Jay O. Sanders Denis Leary
music = John Altman
cinematography = Ellery Ryan
editing = Paul Martin Smith
distributor = Universal Studios
released = 3 October 1997
runtime = 97 min
rating = R
country = UK
awards =
language = English
budget =
imdb_id = 0119632

"The MatchMaker" is a 1997 film about a cynical American woman who reluctantly visits the West of Ireland. The film’s tagline was “A romantic comedy for the incurably unromantic.”

Plot

Marcy Tizzard (Janeane Garofalo) is assistant to fictional Senator John McGlory (Jay O. Sanders) from Boston, Massachusetts. In an attempt to court the Irish-American vote in a tough reelection battle, the bumbling senator's chief of staff, Nick (Denis Leary), sends Marcy to Ireland to find McGlory's relatives or ancestors.

Marcy arrives at the fictional village of Ballinagra as it is preparing for the annual matchmaking festival. She attracts the attention of two rival professional matchmakers, Dermot (Milo O'Shea) and Millie (Rosaleen Linehan), as well as roguish bartender Sean (David O'Hara).

The locals tolerate her genealogical search while trying to match her with various bachelors. Sean tries to woo Marcy despite her resistance to his boorish manners. After they have begun their romance, they return home to Sean's house one afternoon to find his estranged wife waiting for them. Marcy leaves Sean, upset that he did not disclose his marriage to her.

McGlory and Nick arrive in Ballinagra, although Marcy's been unable to locate any McGlory relatives. McGlory discovers Sean's wife's maiden name is Kennedy and brings her back to Boston as his fiancée just in time for the election, and wins by a small margin. While at the victory party, McGlory's father reveals privately to Marcy that the family is Hungarian, not Irish. The family name had been changed at Ellis Island when they immigrated, but as they settled in Boston with its large Irish population, he never told his son their true lineage.

Sean follows Marcy to Boston, and they reconcile.

Box office

The film earned $1,378,930 in its first weekend and had a total gross of $3,392,080 in 705 theaters.cite web | title=Box Office Mojo.com | work=The Matchmaker | url=http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=matchmaker.htm | accessdate=December 17 | accessyear=2006]

Culture clash

Marcy's expectations clash with a host of colorful rural Irish characters in the tradition of such other works as "The Irish R.M.".

Local flavor

The movie was filmed on-location in the town of Roundstone, County Galway. Besides the personalities of the villagers, the film establishes a sense of place through a generous use of village scenes, the local surrounding farms and a trip to the Aran Islands with cavorting near Dún Aengus. Also, Irish music is heard frequently through out the movie, both as background music and in scenes where its performed live as when a handsome Aran Islander (Vincent Walsh) courts Marcy with his sean nós rendition of "Raglan Road". Van Morrison's song Irish Heartbeat is also featured on the soundtrack.

Quote

*Marcy (on phone): Yes, hello? I'd like to call the United States from the SMALLEST FUCKING ROOM IN THE WORLD!

Trivia

The Matchmaker also has Tommy Tiernan in an early film role before his stand up career took off.

Footnotes

Links

* [http://www.allwatchers.com/topics/info_13685.asp AllWatchers.com]
*imdb title|0119632|The Matchmaker
* [http://www.movieweb.com/movies/film/45/2145/summary.php MovieWeb.com]
* [http://www.urbancinefile.com.au/home/view.asp?a=922&s=Interviews Interview with director Mark Joffe]
* [http://film.virtual-history.com/film.php?filmid=23068 Movie stills]