LIFE’S A BREEZE

(director/writer: Lance Daly; cinematographer: Lance Daly; editor: Shimmy Marcus; music: Lance Daly/Declan Quinn/Eugene Quinn; cast: Kelly Thornton (Emma), Fionnula Flanagan (Nan), Pat Shortt (Colm), Eva Birthistle (Margaret); Runtime: 84; MPAA Rating: R; producers: Macdara Kelleher/Lance Daly; Magnolia Pictures; 2013-Ireland/Sweden)
“The mundane story is not much, but the likable characters are fun.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

Irish filmmaker Lance Daly (“The Halo Effect”/”The Good Doctor”/”Kisses”) directs this breezy sitcom comedy about a working-class Dublin family trying to retrieve a mattress mistakenly thrown away that was stuffed with money. The mundane story is not much, but the likable characters are fun. Tthe contrived Hollywood-like comedy makes for passable entertainment.

The story is told from the point of view of the 13-year-old Emma (Kelly Thornton).

The elderly Nan (Fionnula Flanagan) is a hoarder, living in a cluttered flat with her dim-witted unemployed son Colm (Pat Shortt). When her other two kids, also on the dole, plan a surprise birthday party for her and plan to put in new appliances, Nan’s niece Emma gets her out of the flat to keep her company while her well-meaning children clean out the place. When Nan returns, she informs them that nearly a million Euros has been thrown out along with her junk, newspapers and old furniture.After the shock sinks in that Nan might be telling the truth, though no one is sure of that, a community search party is organized to find where the mattress may have landed.

The feisty 79-year-oldFionnula Flanagan gives a winning performance, in this playful small film of malarkey.

REVIEWED ON 12/5/2014 GRADE: B-