''When Brendan Met Trudy'' is a 2000 Irish film directed by Kieron J. Walsh and starring Peter McDonald and

Flora Montgomery Flora Anne Selina Montgomery (born 4 January 1974) is a Northern Irish actress. Early life and family Montgomery was born at her family's ancestral home in Greyabbey, County Down, the daughter of William Howard Clive Montgomery, OBE, of Rose ...

. It was written by

Roddy Doyle Roderick Doyle (born 8 May 1958) is an Irish novelist, dramatist and screenwriter. He is the author of eleven novels for adults, eight books for children, seven plays and screenplays, and dozens of short stories. Several of his books have been ...

. The screenplay concerns a Dublin schoolteacher who falls in love with a mysterious young woman who turns out to be a thief.

Plot

Brendan ( Peter McDonald) is a shy, reserved teacher who takes his profession seriously. Away from the classroom, he has a love of films and classical music. One night, after practicing with his church choir, he meets Trudy (

), a bright, witty and free-spirited woman whom he believes is a

Montessori The Montessori method of education is a type of educational method that involves children's natural interests and activities rather than formal teaching methods. A Montessori classroom places an emphasis on hands-on learning and developing ...

teacher. Despite the differences in their personalities, the two begin a relationship. Brendan is unaware that his new girlfriend is actually a

burglar Burglary, also called breaking and entering (B&E) or housebreaking, is a property crime involving trespass to land, the illegal entry into a building or other area without permission, typically with the intention of committing a further criminal ...

, and is shocked when Trudy asks him to prove his love by helping her on one of her 'jobs'. Brendan is torn between his feelings for Trudy, and the desire to do what is right. Throughout his relationship with her, Brendan slowly begins to discover himself, and realise that there is more to life than music and movies.

Cast

* Peter McDonald as Brendan *

as Trudy * Maynard Eziashi as Edgar *

Marie Mullen Marie Mullen (born 1953) is an Irish actress. She is known for co-founding the Druid Theatre Company, located in Galway, Ireland. She is also known for her performance in the 1998 production of ''The Beauty Queen of Leenane'', for which she ...

as Mother *

Pauline McLynn Pauline McLynn (born 11 July 1962) is an Irish character actress and author. She is best known for her roles as Mrs. Doyle in the Channel 4 sitcom ''Father Ted'', Libby Croker in the Channel 4 comedy drama '' Shameless'', Tip Haddem in the BBC ...

as Nuala *

Don Wycherley Don Wycherley is an Irish actor. He played Father Cyril McDuff in ''Father Ted'', Father Aidan O'Connell in ''Ballykissangel'', and Raymond in '' Bachelors Walk''. Wycherley is a fluent Irish speaker. He is the brother-in-law of actress Tin ...

as Niall *

Eileen Walsh Eileen Walsh (born 16 April 1977) is an Irish actress. Her credits include '' Miss Julie'' (1999), '' Janice Beard 45 WPM'' (1999), '' When Brendan Met Trudy'' (2000), '' The Magdalene Sisters'' (2002), '' Pure Mule'' (2005), ''Eden'' (2008), ' ...

as Siobhán * Barry Cassin as Headmaster * Robert O'Neill as Dylan

Production

According to producer Lynda Myles, the film was "modestly budgeted" with ''Variety magazine'' estimating the production budget at $5 million. The film received funding from BBC Films, followed by The

Irish Film Board Not to be confused with Northern Ireland Screen. Fís Éireann / Screen Ireland, formerly known as Bord Scannán na hÉireann or the Irish Film Board, is Republic of Ireland, Ireland's state development agency for the Irish film, television an ...

RTÉ (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Irish public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, ...

, and Section 481 finance. Peter McDonald, was cast as the lead following up on his impressive film debut as Brendan Gleeson's sidekick, Git, in I Went Down. Many actors were seen for the role but the producers were impressed by Flora Montgomery and cast her in her first cinema role. The scene where Brendan and Trudy first meet was filmed in Kavanagh's bar in Stoneybatter. The Ormonde cinema in Stillorgan, Co Dublin, was used for the scene where Brendan goes to see

Once Upon a Time in the West ''Once Upon a Time in the West'' ( is a 1968 epic spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone, who co-wrote it with Sergio Donati, based on a story by Dario Argento, Bernardo Bertolucci and Leone. It stars Henry Fonda, playing against t ...

, the Savoy and the Ambassador on O'Connell Street served as cinema exteriors.

Reception

The film received mixed reviews. Review aggregation website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

gives the film a score of 61% based on reviews from 62 critics. The site's consensus was "The references to other films are rather overdone, and the direction is uneven".

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

gives the film a score of 53% based on reviews from 25 critics. Reviewing the film for the BBC, George Perry gives it 3/5 stars. Perry described the film as an agreeable comedy, full of in-jokes for film buffs, and plenty of non-film related delights too. He concludes "Under Kieron J Walsh's direction this is a sprightly 'odd couple' yarn brimming with sweet Irish charm." Peter Bradshaw describes the film as "ordinary piece of work from Roddy Doyle" a standard rom-com, calling it "dull enough to qualify as an honorary British film".

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

gave the film 3 out of 4 stars. Ebert says you will likely enjoy the film more if you get the film references but whether you do the film still works.

Emanuel Levy Emanuel Levy () is a veteran, well-known American film critic and professor emeritus of sociology and film of Arizona State University. For the past 50 years, he has taught a wide variety of courses in sociology, film studies, and popular cultur ...

of ''

Variety magazine ''Variety'' is an American trade magazine owned by Penske Media Corporation. It was founded by Sime Silverman in New York City in 1905 as a weekly newspaper reporting on theater and vaudeville. In 1933, ''Daily Variety'' was launched, based in ...

'' called it an "intermittently funny movie anchored by strong performances" but he says the "writing and direction are uneven". The film grossed £200,000 from 30 screens in its debut in Ireland.

References

External links

* * original trailer {{Roddy Doyle 2000 films Films set in Dublin (city) 2000 black comedy films Irish black comedy films BBC Film films Films shot in Dublin (city) 2000s English-language films English-language black comedy films 2000s Irish films