''Bobbie's Girl'' is a 2002 Irish comedy-drama television film directed by

Jeremy Kagan Jeremy Paul Kagan (born December 14, 1945) is an American film and television director, screenwriter, and television producer. Early life Born in Mount Vernon, New York, Kagan received his B.A. from Harvard University in 1967. He went on to at ...

and starring

Bernadette Peters Bernadette Peters ( ''née'' Lazzara; born February 28, 1948) is an American actress, singer, and children's book author. Over a career spanning more than six decades, she has starred in musical theatre, television and film, performed in solo co ...

Rachel Ward Rachel Claire Ward (born 12 September 1957) is an English-Australian

Jonathan Silverman Jonathan Elihu Silverman (born August 5, 1966) is an American actor, known for his roles in the comedy films ''Brighton Beach Memoirs'', ''Weekend at Bernie's'', and its sequel '' Weekend at Bernie's II''. Early life and education Silverman wa ...

, and

Thomas Sangster Thomas Brodie-Sangster (born 16 May 1990), also credited as Thomas Sangster, is an English actor. He is known for playing Sam in ''Love Actually'' (2003), Simon in '' Nanny McPhee'' (2005), Ferb in ''Phineas and Ferb'' (2007–2015), Jojen Reed ...

. The plot is about two women leading a comfortable, quiet life running a pub in Dublin who are suddenly confronted with a series of health and family crises.

Plot

Bobbie Langham (

Rachel Ward Rachel Claire Ward (born 12 September 1957) is an English-Australian

) and Bailey Lewis (

) are life partners who own and run "The Two Sisters", a pub in the seaside village of Bray, near

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, aided by Bailey's brother, David Lewis (

). Bobbie discovers that she has breast cancer, and is determined to deal with the crisis on her own. Meanwhile, the parents of Bobbie's 10-year-old nephew Alan Langham (

) have been killed, and Bailey talks a reluctant Bobbie into taking him in. Bobbie and Bailey are opposites. Bobbie is cool, quiet, reserved and practical. Bailey is an American, warm, outgoing and eccentric, and a former actress. As Bobbie undergoes treatment for her illness she finally agrees to accept Bailey's help. In turn, Bailey takes over the management of the pub and takes care of Bobbie, growing more responsible. In the end, Bobbie learns to express her love for Alan and accepts him into the extended "family", much to Bailey's delight. A "wedding-commitment" ceremony between Bobbie and Bailey, attended by family and friends, solidifies the women's commitment to each other.

Production and cast

''Bobbie's Girl'' was filmed in Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland. The film reunites Peters with director Jeremy Kagan, who directed her in the Faerie Tale Theatre TV movie ''

Sleeping Beauty ''Sleeping Beauty'' (french: La belle au bois dormant, or ''The Beauty in the Sleeping Forest''; german: Dornröschen, or ''Little Briar Rose''), also titled in English as ''The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods'', is a fairy tale about a princess ...

''. The made-for-television film was initially broadcast on the Showtime network on 9 June 2002. * Bobbie - Rachel Ward * Bailey - Bernadette Peters * David - Jonathan Silverman * Alan - Thomas Sangster

Reception

The ''Gannett News Service'' review noted that the first part of the film "is truly wonderful. Even when the story becomes contrived, we'll forgive it instantly." It is "skillfully written..and directed" and "Peters' character, in particular, is warm, ditzy and delightful." The

CNN.com CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

reviewer wrote that the "story is as sketchy and unconvincing as Bailey's theatrical resume." The ''

Grand Rapids Press ''The Grand Rapids Press'' is a daily newspaper published in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It is the largest of the eight Booth newspapers. It is sold for $1.50 daily and $7.99 on Sunday. AccuWeather provides weather content to the ''Grand Rapids ...

'' reviewer wrote that it is a "charming tale of two women who run a pub", and that "Peters is her usual eccentric, curly-haired self. And Ward, who could be the U.K. twin of "West Wing's" Allison Janney, is letter perfect as the deep-voiced, rather severe Bobbie." The ''

Daily Variety ''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 ...

'' reviewer wrote that the movie is "all character and situation and no plot", and that "Kagan never quite finds the pixilated sensibility the work seems to need, while writer Samuel Bernstein strains for a climax. The one thing "Bobbie's Girl" does have going for its subdued treatment of the lesbian relationship --- these characters don't need to be lesbians for any plot point, they just are." The ''

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Texas, United States. , it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. With i ...

'' noted this is "An Irish co-production, Bobbie's Girl was filmed in Ireland, a fine and proper setting for the whimsical free-spiritedness it aims to project." The ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...

'' reviewer wrote that the film was "Improbable yet oddly charming", with a style that hovers "somewhere between fairy tale and quirky art-house attraction."Miller, Darryl L
"A Quirky Tale of Identity, Family in 'Bobbie's Girl' "
''Los Angeles Times'', 8 June 2002

Awards and nominations

Daytime Emmy Award The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences ...

s, Outstanding Performer in a Children's Special—Bernadette Peters (nominated) *

GLAAD GLAAD (), an acronym of Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, is an American non-governmental media monitoring organization originally founded as a protest against defamatory coverage of gay and lesbian demographics and their portraya ...

Media Award, Outstanding Television Movie (nominated)

References

External links