Evelyn film review

certificate_PG

EVELYN

When he's not spending his time as the world's most durable and profitable action hero (the three Bond films he has appeared in have taken over $1 billion worldwide), Pierce Brosnan has his pick of film projects to work on - notably through his own production company Irish Dreamtime. Some of these are equally commercial and mainstream (The Thomas Crown Affair) while others show that he is more than happy to choose something with integrity rather than commerciality (Attenborough's Grey Owl and the under-rated The Tailor of Panama.)

Evelyn definitely falls into the latter category. Based on true events, it tells the story of Desmond Doyle - a single parent who attempted to overcome tremendous odds to defeat the Irish legal system and ensure that his children were allowed to stay with him.

Dublin, 1953. Doyle is a painter and decorator, fond of a pint but struggling to make ends meet. When his wife leaves him and his three children the state rules that the youngsters must be taken into care. The law was simple and stark: single parent families were just not allowed to exist. To make matters worse, Doyle seeks solace in the bottle and mounts unsuccessful raids on the convent where his daughter Evelyn is being held by variously over-exuberant nuns.

Plenty of scope therefore for some solid and engaging drama - not unlike the recent The Magdalene Sisters. But whereas Peter Mullan's effort was hard-hitting and precisely judged, the execution of Evelyn leaves a great deal to be desired.

Director Bruce Beresford seems to have gone off the boil since making such groundbreaking movies as Don's Party and Breaker Morant. Every time there is an opportunity to challenge or provoke, he opts for the maudlin and frankly downright unbelievable. To be fair, it doesn't look like he had the biggest budget to work with either. Blame must also go to Paul Pender's script, which is in turns daft, simplistic, predictable and often simply embarrassing - notably recurring scenes involving the young girl and her deceased grandfather which would have failed to make the grade in a Children's Film Foundation effort.