Directed by Maurice Linnane. Starring Jayne Wisener, Mark O’Halloran, Lee Arenberg, Rafael Sardina, Jay Thomas, Caroline Morahan 15A cert, general release, 86 min
THE CENTRAL premise of Maurice Linnane’s tolerable Irish film strains the credulity somewhat. A girl from Antrim wins an unusual prize on a TV show: the organisers enable her to travel to New York and track down her idol, a country western star named Jed Wood.
Hang on. That sounds bananas. But, yes, there really was once such a show on Irish television. Anyway, the harmless little romantic comedy, shot on a limited budget, slips down smoothly without jagging any tonsils on the way.
Jayne Wisener, the Northern Irish actor who grabbed a key role in Sweeney Todd, plays a feisty, spirited woman named Orla. We begin with her triumphantly identifying Jed Wood’s father on TV and being dispatched to the airport with a reluctant cameraman. You know how these things go. They begin by bickering, but gradually come to a friendly (possibly romantic) understanding.
In another place, Gerard Butler and Jenifer Aniston would have taken on the lead roles, which wouldn’t necessarily be an improvement. Mark O’Halloran, usually angrier and more roughed- about, does predictably good work as the budding film-maker reduced to the worst sort of hack work.
Ms Wisener enunciates a little too precisely – she sounds as if she’s taking an elocution exam – but has no shortage of charm or energy.
A Kiss for Jed is the work of rock royalty. Linanne has directed videos for U2. Barry Devlin, the film’s screenwriter, was, of course, a founder member of Horslips. They have used their limited resources quite craftily. Pleasant shots of the New York skyline and Grand Central Station give the picture a convincing sense of place. Ciarán Tanham’s photography is snappy and easy on the eye.
But there’s no escaping the film’s slightness. The characters are buffeted from one mild inconvenience to the next without ever encountering anything that resembles a story. Breathe too heavily and the entire thing might collapse before your eyes.
