THE CLOSER YOU GET

Ireland’s craggy coast is a favorite of filmmakers. Not only does Ireland offer economic incentives, but also years of occupation and poverty have created a great historic, yet living, culture.

According to THE CLOSER YOU GET, many areas of Ireland, especially its craggy coast, have been losing their youth to America, England and even Ireland’s big cities. Marriage, therefore, is rare, and funerals are numerous.

In THE CLOSER YOU GET, a local priest, Father Hubert Malone, in a beautiful tiny, windswept community, is trying to reach his tiny flock by showing movies every other week in the sanctuary. He has gone through SONG OF BERNADETTE and many of the other Catholic themed movies.

Everyone this particular week is settling down to watch THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. When the film messenger arrives late, however, it is not the movie THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, but the movie 10 with Bo Derek. The proper women are horrified by the first few moments of the film.

The men, however, are smitten by lust. They decide to put an ad in a Miami newspaper to invite American women (who must all look like Bo Derek) to come to their remote village for the big annual dance. Kieran (Ian Hart) leads this effort to bring true love to Donagal. Immediately, he bleaches his hair, changes his clothes and starts to spiff up his butcher shop.

The women of the village, however, are annoyed that their lads are languishing after these American lassies. By the time of the dance, they have their own plans and invite the Spanish fisherman to join them at the dance. Cultures clash, and Kieran finds out that his true love was living in the village all the time.

Thus, THE CLOSER YOU GET affirms the propositions that the grass is not greener on the other side, and that we sometimes overlook love for lust. Getting to this point, however, involves much sexual discussion, some broken relationships and off-screen fornication. One not-so-young man, 34-year-old Ollie, does not want to be a virgin when the American women come. So, he seeks a crash course and finds true love.

By the way, the American women don’t come in time for the dance, so the men’s fantasies are not fulfilled in the way they expected.

Father Hubert in this movie is a rather difficult character. He stops the movie 10, but later he is shown watching it. He tries to advise the young men of Donagal about the American women by saying that they need to try on a suit before buying it and that they may have to try on many suits. This little analogy gets very salacious and is not a proper biblical teaching on relationships. Even though the good father may be unaware of the full impact of his words, the viewer and the writer clearly understand the illusions. Furthermore, the father seems to condone a broken relationship and a quick rematch. That being said, he also offers some good Christian advice and he does refer to God, as do several other characters, including Ollie after he learns about the birds and the bees.

THE CLOSER YOU GET has some winsome points. The action by mainly unknowns is mostly entertaining and the first time director, Aileen Ritchie, makes a valiant effort. She does not sustain a sense of jeopardy within the movie, however, so there are many moments which just drift. The same subject matter was covered better in SENSE AND SENSIBILITY, a whole lot cleaner and more moral movie.