Evelyn

Evelyn (2002)
PG
Running Time: 95 minutes
UK

For those of you who managed to nail your eyelids open long enough to watch the newly released Mama Mia!, Evelyn may interest you too. Actually, all that the two films share in common is Pierce Brosnan singing. But, if James Bond singing ABBA songs to Meryl Streep doesn't deter you, then James Bond singing Irish Pub songs can only be that much more enticing. Supposedly this film is based on actual events. Desmond is the father of three children. His wife leaves him, and he subsequently looses his children because he drinks. The children are sent to a Catholic orphanage. James is poor and he is an alcoholic. He gives up the drink, teams up with some lawyers and they try to overthrow the Irish system of family law. The law can be interesting, sometimes, and this film does an fairly good job of exploring the social and political aspects of any good lawsuit, but so far as movies about the law are concerned, this one is pretty typical.

This film has good nuns and one bad nun, bad lawyers and a few good lawyers, cute little kids, and a grip of Irish people hanging out in pubs. But, there is only one lay Irish folk singer, and though he doesn't quite measure up to The Pogues, Dropkick Murphys, or Flogging Molly, he most certainly outdoes his performance in Mama Mia! (Trust me, that film was so bad that I didn't even see it.) The best part of this film is Evelyn's (Sophie Vavasseur) testimony.

This film is a 3 out of 5. It is mediocre, inspirational, and moderately paced. (Want to see a really good portrayal of politics and law? See the recent John Adams mini-series, episode 1.)