''The Matchmaker'' is a 1997 American

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

film starring

Janeane Garofalo Janeane Marie Garofalo ( ; born September 28, 1964) is an American comedian, actress, and former co-host on the now-defunct Air America Radio's ''The Majority Report''. Garofalo began her career as a stand-up comedian and became a cast member on ...

Plot

Marcy Tizard (

) is assistant to

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

John McGlory (

Jay O. Sanders Jay Olcutt Sanders (born April 16, 1953) is an American film, theatre and television actor and playwright. He frequently appears in plays off-Broadway at The Public Theatre. Early life and education Sanders was born on April 16, 1953 in Austin, ...

) from Boston, Massachusetts. In an attempt to court the

Irish-American , image = Irish ancestry in the USA 2018; Where Irish eyes are Smiling.png , image_caption = Irish Americans, % of population by state , caption = Notable Irish Americans , population = 36,115,472 (10.9%) alone ...

vote in a tough re-election battle, the bumbling senator's chief of staff, Nick (

Denis Leary Denis Colin Leary (born August 18, 1957) is an American actor and comedian. A native of Massachusetts, Leary first came to prominence as a stand-up comedian, especially through appearances on MTV (including the comedic song "Asshole (song), Assh ...

), sends Marcy to Ireland to find McGlory's relatives or ancestors. Marcy arrives at the fictional village of Ballinagra ( ga, Baile na Grá, literally the Town of Love) as it is preparing for the annual

matchmaking Matchmaking is the process of matching two or more people together, usually for the purpose of marriage, in which case the matchmaker is also known as a marriage broker. The word is also used in the context of sporting events such as boxing, in ...

festival. She attracts the attention of two rival professional matchmakers, Dermot (

Milo O'Shea Milo Donal O'Shea (2 June 1926 – 2 April 2013) was an Irish people, Irish actor. He was twice nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his performances in ''Staircase (play), Staircase'' (1968) and ''Mass Appeal (play), Mass A ...

) and Millie (

Rosaleen Linehan Rosaleen Philomena Linehan (; born 1 June 1937) is an Irish stage, screen and television actress. Career Linehan was born in Dublin. She attended University College Dublin and graduated in 1957 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and P ...

), as well as roguish bartender Sean (

David O'Hara David Patrick O'Hara (born 9 July 1965) is a Scottish stage and character actor. A graduate of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London, he is best known to audiences for his numerous supporting roles in high-profile films; includ ...

). The locals tolerate her

genealogical Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kinsh ...

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 Moira (

Saffron Burrows Saffron Domini Burrows (born 22 October 1972) is an English actress and model who has appeared in films such as '' Circle of Friends,'' ''Wing Commander,'' '' Deep Blue Sea,'' ''Gangster No. 1,'' ''Enigma,'' ''Troy,'' ''Reign Over Me'' and ''The ...

) 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 (

Robert Mandan Robert Mandan (February 2, 1932 – April 29, 2018) was an American actor, best known for his roles as Sam Reynolds on ''Search for Tomorrow'' (1965–1970), Chester Tate, the womanizing businessman husband of Jessica Tate (Katherine Helmond ...

) reveals privately to Marcy that the family is Hungarian, not Irish. The family name had been changed at

Ellis Island Ellis Island is a federally owned island in New York Harbor, situated within the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, that was the busiest immigrant inspection and processing station in the United States. From 1892 to 1954, nearly 12 mi ...

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.

Reception

Box office

The film earned $1,378,930 in its first weekend and had a total gross of $3,392,080 in 705 theatres.

Critical response

Review aggregation website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American 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, and Stephen Wang ...

gave the film a score of 50% based on reviews from 32 critics, with an average rating of 5.5 out of 10 reviews.

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

gives the film 3 out of 4 stars. Ebert praises Garofalo, calling her "one of the most engaging actresses around" and admiring her balance of "her cynical intelligence and the warmth of her smile". Ebert finds the Irish centre of the film charming and says the Boston bookends are distracting. The Irish Independent notes: "Bad things happen whenever Hollywood and Ireland collide and this rather thin comedy is no exception" but say the film is helped by the central performance of Janeane Garofalo. In a 2003 interview, when asked what films from her career she was happiest with, Garofalo included ''The Matchmaker'' among the few films she mentioned.

Cultural references

Marcy's expectations clash with a host of colourful rural Irish characters in the tradition of such other works as ''

The Irish R.M. ''The Irish R.M.'' is a trilogy of books by the Anglo-Irish novelists Somerville and Ross and a 1983 television comedy-drama series based on them. They are set in the turn-of-the-twentieth-century west of Ireland. Books The television series ...

'' Filming took place on location in the town of

Roundstone, County Galway Roundstone () is a village on the west coast of Ireland, in the Connemara region of County Galway. Lying opposite the island of Inishnee on Roundstone Bay, by road it is northwest of Galway and southeast of Clifden. Known as a haven for people ...

. 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 The Aran Islands ( ; gle, Oileáin Árann, ) or The Arans (''na hÁrainneacha'' ) are a group of three islands at the mouth of Galway Bay, off the west coast of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, with a total area around . They constitute the histo ...

, with cavorting near Dún Aengus. Worked into the story is a parody of Senator

John Kerry John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician and diplomat who currently serves as the first United States special presidential envoy for climate. A member of the Forbes family and the Democratic Party (Unite ...

's family background. His paternal grandfather was from Eastern Europe, picking a new name once arriving in America and blending into the Irish Catholic community in Boston.

Music

Irish music Irish music is music that has been created in various genres on the island of Ireland. The indigenous music of the island is termed Irish traditional music. It has remained vibrant through the 20th and into the 21st century, despite globalis ...

is heard frequently throughout, both as background music and in scenes where it is performed live as when an Irishman (Vincent Walsh) competes for a kiss from Marcy with his sean-nós rendition of " Raglan Road". The soundtrack features "

Haunted Haunted or The Haunted may refer to: Books * ''Haunted'' (Armstrong novel), by Kelley Armstrong, 2005 * ''Haunted'' (Cabot novel), by Meg Cabot, 2004 * ''Haunted'' (Palahniuk novel), by Chuck Palahniuk, 2005 * ''Haunted'' (Angel novel), a 200 ...

" by

Shane MacGowan Shane Patrick Lysaght MacGowan (born 25 December 1957) is an Irish singer, songwriter, and musician. He is best known as the lead singer and songwriter of Celtic punk band the Pogues. He was also a member of the Nipple Erectors and Shane MacGo ...

and

Sinéad O'Connor Shuhada Sadaqat (born Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor on 8 December 1966; ) is an Irish singer-songwriter. Her debut album, ''The Lion and the Cobra'', was released in 1987 and charted internationally. Her second album, ''I Do Not Want What ...

. "

Irish Heartbeat ''Irish Heartbeat'' is the eighteenth studio album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison and is a collaboration with the traditional Irish musical group the Chieftains, released in 1988. It was recorded at Windmill Lane Studios in Du ...

" by

Van Morrison Sir George Ivan Morrison (born 31 August 1945), known professionally as Van Morrison, is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose recording career spans seven decades. He has won two Grammy Awards. As a teenager in t ...

and

The Chieftains The Chieftains are a traditional Irish folk band formed in Dublin in 1962, by Paddy Moloney, Seán Potts and Michael Tubridy. Their sound, which is almost entirely instrumental and largely built around uilleann pipes, has become synonymous wi ...

plays during the end credits.

World Party World Party were a British musical group, which was essentially the solo project of its sole member, Karl Wallinger. He started the band in 1986 in London after leaving the Waterboys. Career After a stint as musical director of a West End p ...

's 1997 song " She's the One" is also included on the soundtrack.

References

External links

* *
MovieWeb.com

Interview with director Mark Joffe

Movie stills

AllWatchers.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Matchmaker, The 1997 films 1997 romantic comedy films American independent films 1997 independent films American romantic comedy films Films set in Boston Films set in Ireland Films directed by Mark Joffe PolyGram Filmed Entertainment films Working Title Films films Films produced by Eric Fellner Films produced by Tim Bevan 1990s English-language films 1990s American films