''When Brendan Met Trudy'' is a 2000 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 Rosem ...

. It was written by

Roddy Doyle Roddy 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 ma ...

. 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 practising 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 involves children's natural interests and activities rather than formal teaching methods. A Montessori classroom places an emphasis on hands-on learning and developing real-world skills. It emphasizes indepen ...

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 and sometimes housebreaking, is the act of entering a building or other areas without permission, with the intention of committing a criminal offence. Usually that offence is theft, robbery or murd ...

, 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 realises 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 rec ...

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 (born 15 September 1967, Skibbereen, County Cork) 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 ...

as Niall *

Eileen Walsh Eileen Walsh (born 16 April 1977) is an Irish actress. Biography Born and raised in Cork, Ireland, Walsh was raised in a Catholic household, and had no intention of becoming an actress, until she followed in the footsteps of her elder sister ...

as Siobhán *

Barry Cassin John Finbar Cassin (23 November 1924 – 14 January 2017), known professionally as Barry Cassin, was an Irish television, stage and screen actor. On stage, he is best known for his role in the production of ''Twelve Angry Men''. On screen, Cassi ...

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 Fís Éireann / Screen Ireland, formerly known as Bord Scannán na hÉireann / the Irish Film Board, is the Republic of Ireland's state development agency for the Irish film, television and animation industry. It provides funds for the developm ...

RTÉ, 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 ''I Went Down'' is a 1997 Irish crime comedy film by director Paddy Breathnach. Plot After serving an eight-month prison sentence for breaking and entering, working class Dublin lad Git Hynes, meets ex-girlfriend Sabrina Bradley, who now pref ...

. 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 Ormonde is a surname occurring in Portugal (mainly Azores), Brazil, England, and United States. It may refer to: People * Ann Ormonde (born 1935), an Irish politician * James Ormond (administrator), James Ormond or Ormonde (c. 1418–1497), the i ...

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'' ( , "Once upon a time (there was) 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 ...

, and 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-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 ...

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 a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

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 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 an American film critic and professor who has taught at Columbia University, New School for Social Research, Wellesley College, Arizona State University and UCLA Film School. Levy currently teaches in the department of cinema ...

of ''

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

'' 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 2000 comedy films Irish black comedy films BBC Film films Films shot in Dublin (city) 2000s English-language films