“Irish Wish” - Movie Review

Lindsay Lohan, Ireland, romance and a release just before St. Patrick’s Day. What more could a movie lover ask for? The answer is…another movie.

Irish Wish follows a woman named Maddie, and her tragic love life. She’s clearly in love with her boss, Paul, but no one suspects, not even her best friends.

Everything changes when one of her B.F.F.s gets engaged to Paul, making Maddie a bridesmaid. Dreading this lavish Irish wedding, Maddie makes a wish to become the bride – it’s granted.

Will she love this new life or will she start yearning for another?

Being a big Lohan fan, this movie was very disappointing. It had some redeeming qualities, such as the actors and locations, but overall it’s a total flop.

Starting out strong with editing errors, in the first few minutes there’s a reporter asking questions and it is very obvious that the audio did not match up with the video. Rookie mistake.

Additionally, there are two separate time jumps that are very poorly executed. Blink and they’re gone, not to mention they were both abrupt.

Moving onto characters and actors, it was rough. Just to preface this section, none of the main actors were Irish. The majority were actually from the U.K.

Ayesha Curry played Heather, one of Maddie’s (Lohan’s) friends. This seemed like a random choice. No offense to Curry, but acting is not her strong suit. Every time that she spoke it seemed so unnatural and her character’s dialogue was lacking.

The other character to highlight is Maddie’s mom, played by Jane Seymour. She was irrelevant. The only reason they had this character was to “encourage” Maddie and to make silly jokes in an urgent period of the film.

Also, why did she have an accent and Maddie didn’t? It’s well known that Seymour is English, but there could have been more thought behind the choice.

Lastly, Brigid, played by Dawn Bradfield, was zany. Similar to Maddie’s mom, the character did not need to exist. The entire magical concept took away from the loveliness of the plot.

The exact plotline could have had no Brigid magic, surviving on its own.

Some of the worst scenes were with Maddie’s mom, Heather and Brigid. So, what were the worst scenes?

Anything with Maddie’s mother was unnecessary, particularly one scene that takes place in an airport. While these cuts to the mom were meant to create urgency, they only distracted from the rest of the plot.

Now, the next thing to mention, that was egregious, was the clichéness of it all. Anything from the local pub to the dialogue was embellished. They did nothing to truly further the story.

Some examples of the dialogue that were especially platitudinous were, “tickety-boo,” “cheeky” and “love.” Yes, they are words used in Ireland, but the ways in which they were spoken in the film were noticeably for effect. It was strange.

There is so much more that could be said about the lesser qualities of this film, but it’s time to transition into the limited things that were correct.

One thing that the production team did right was the soundtrack. Each song matched the vibe of the scene and was pleasant to listen to…pretty self-explanatory.

A big piece of this film was the aesthetic. The characters, plants and various settings all sport bright colors. Varieties of red, yellow, pink and green made for beautiful layers.

In addition to the colors, the scenery was smashing! The film was almost entirely set on location in Ireland so of course it would look astonishing.

The creeks, bridges, homes and the Cliffs of Moher are all so charming. Visually, this movie was gorgeous. All of its faults made it ugly.

The last detail that should be mentioned is the unique plotline. As evident by the rest of this review, "Irish Wish" is not a well-made film. Nevertheless, it was an original concept.

There are no movies that match this exact structure or story. The world needs more originality, this is at least a start.

To conclude, this movie was subpar. Watch with caution!

Rating: 1/5

P.S. Enjoy this side-by-side comparison of Lindsay Lohan ("Irish Wish") and Mulan ("Mulan").

Isabel Sweet is a second-year majoring in film production. To contact her, email ips5219@psu.edu.