Almost a decade later, Lindsay Lohan made her first appearance in a film where she had the leading role in the Netflix Holiday movie “Falling for Christmas” two years ago, one of which Instagram followers adored. Now meeting Janeen Damien again, the actress has changed genres and focuses on the romantic comedy in Irish Wish, although this time with some fantasy and the Irish luck twist to it.
Paul Kennedy, played by Alexander Vlahos, is an Irish charm but a rather dull romance author who becomes the obsession of Lohan’s character, Maddie Kelly, a book editor in Lohan’s charming performance in “Irish Wish.” Only her mother knows about it, Rosemary (Jane Seymour), a wrongful principal of a high school in Des Monies, Iowa. But rather than letting that stop her, Madame plans on doing it at the book launch when Emma (Elizabeth Tan), her best friend, gets a cringeworthy meet cute with Paul over an eyelash. There is a good chemistry between the two and within three months, the entire cast has been flown to Ireland for Paul’s opulent country residence wedding.
In the waiting area at the airport, Maddie has a comical encounter when she grabs the suitcase of dashing English photographer James (Ed Speleers) who she assumes is hers. Once the misunderstanding was settled, the two are put on the same bus from the airport to the country. On the bus, they continue to insult one another, and by the time they reach their destination, they have grown to detest each other. After putting the estate neatly into place, Maddie emerges from the main house and takes a stroll , only to find herself sitting on a stone wishing chair. An elf St. Brigid, played by Dawn Bradfield, is sitting next to her and encourages her. “I wish I were marrying Paul Kennedy,” she suddenly says, out of nowhere. A storm swirls about her, blowing a myriad of magical pink cherry blossom petals into the wind around her and pulling her into the world’s ever whispering destiny.
But more often than not, the inverse of one’s wish becomes true, as is the case now. Even though she wakes up in a bridal gown, it is quite apparent that she and Paul are not made for one another. It is ironic that the more time they spend in each other’s shoes, the more Paul’s obstinacy seems to unravel itself. As if to exchange, James comes forward as a passionate and rational man, who barely knows Maddie, but agrees to be a wedding photographer for her upcoming wedding information.
It is only when she accepts her wish has ruined everyone’s lives, including the lives of her close ones like James, that a priest reminds her that Saint Brigid, taking learned lessons from Saint Mick and Saint Keith, does not always fulfill your wishes but instead might fulfill your actual needs.
As to the structure and the plotting, they do not break any new grounds as far as the genre goes, but for some reason, the presence of Lohan makes the picture work. She is very much a star and has made a career out of being a screwball comedienne even when the material is subpar like in Just My Luck. Damian often shoots her in medium close ups against a soft golden light which accentuates her features rather than overemphasizing them. Together, the actors have palpable chemistry, making their banter enjoyable and adding heat, like to a covert dart game in a secluded pub, to their love scenes. Regarding the physical comedy, her slapsicks are witty, and the pacing is accurate, but sometimes, the intercutting of the star’s shot and her double’s one is rather awkward.
As the scene shifts from the pristine beauty of Lough Tay to the Cliffs of Moher, there was enough on show to give viewers the impression they had been transported to another world, where the fairies are alive carefree, and the idea of true love was valid. This Irishness of the film is accompanied by Nathan LanierS sometimes cliched but mostly endearing, slightly Celtic themed originals.
The first problem, however, lies in the secondary cast. Vlahos is great voicing dorky Paul; I enjoyed his speech patterns which often sounded like the voice over of ‘Liberty Biberty’ advertisements and I mean this positively. Perhaps she could have been spared such a fate, but Seymour is extremely stereotyped here as a mother. I mean, she has never seen Lohan in a scene where the two of them are not on Facetime. To make matters worse, her comedic repertoire is very broad and out of touch with the film’s atmosphere. There aren’t many other highlights in the performance of Jacinta Mulcahy, who played Paul’s mother Olivia, who is a spoilt snob in many ways.
Emma Tan as Tan does not come across very well but manages to create emotion when she envisions a world where the man that she loves is marrying a different person, and he almost does two worlds but their romance is not all logical to the plot as it should have been considering the stakes at hand.
Another friend of what seems like the perfect love triangle, a third friend Heather, is being brought to image by celebrity chef Ayesha Curry who must still work on acting and speaking as she is already doing in cooking.
With its occasional blemishes, ‘Irish Wish’, to quote a certain ‘Prison Break’ character, is as modestly entertaining as the type of lowbrow romantic fiction that Maddie works on for Paul, and pretty much just as forgettable. I would really like Lohan to shine in something bigger, perhaps in a more upscale romcom such as ‘Anyone But You’, but then again after all the nasty media lynching she went through for so many years, she goes out on some limb and makes ‘Damien’ her creative and safe space, and we get one of these low budget ‘netflix’ escapades every few years, so be it.
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