Mrs Brown’s Boys D’Movie

Released: 27th June 2014

Directed By: Ben Kellett

Starring: Brendan O’Carroll

Certificate: 15

Reviewed By: Lucy Haig

Riding on the ratings success of the hit BBC One sitcom, Mrs Brown’s Boys, Brendan O’Carroll and BBC Films have now teamed up on a feature length outing for everyone’s favourite Mammy. D’Movie focuses on Agnes Brown’s career as a stall holder in Dublin’s famous Moore Street Market and her battle to keep it when the Russian Mob and an extortionate tax bill threaten her livelihood.

O’Carroll’s writing style translates well from the thirty minute sitcom format to feature length and all the charm and quirks from the parent show are present. There is some difficulty in finding ways to bring across the informal ‘live’ experience however and in places, the forgotten lines and uncontrollable giggles feel as though they are scripted and not a natural occurrence. It perhaps would have been a much better decision to leave those moments purely for the end credits where the remainder of the outtakes become one of the high points of the film. These issues also cause a slight loss of pace to what regular viewers will be used to with jokes not coming as regularly but fortunately, for the most part, having twice the impact when they do.

The staple points of Mrs Brown’s Boys are all present, Buster with his hare-brained ideas, Winnie with her naive inappropriate comments and Dermot with his questionable costumes all have golden moments as well as new characters being given ample opportunity to steal some of the limelight.

The comedy is of the same tone as the sitcom and as such the numerous difficult to swallow stereotypes we see there are brought across to the feature but I feel we would be expecting too much of O’Carroll to develop away from this when it is what his core audience is familiar with and at no point do you feel he is intending to do harm with his representations – every culture and orientation is fair game, there is no singling out here.

D’Movie gives O’Carroll great opportunity to further develop his characters beyond their comedic value and it works brilliantly, giving the cast a chance to stretch a few different acting muscles for a change. Granddad, our virtually silent patriarch of the family, is raised from his status as the bane of Agnes’ life to someone who is actually quite self-sufficient and will go above and beyond to protect his family, even if his ideas fall a little far down the Buster end of the scale when put into practice!

O’Carroll’s performance brings huge new depths to Mrs Brown as we learn more about her and how she became ‘The Mammy’. The plot covers a time when she had recently been widowed with six children to care for and the emotional impact those moments have is something unexpected from a franchise of this nature. There is also a distinct pride shown for holding on to cultural identity and what it means to be part of not just Dublin, but anywhere with a rich and colourful heritage.

Unfortunately, the biggest let down for Mrs Brown’s Boys D’Movie is its audience! People who last left their houses sometime during the Middle Ages and are unfamiliar with cinema etiquette are rife. For a minute there, there was a chance this review would be about the missing sour cream and chive Pringles (Panic over, stand down the search and rescue squad! Tracey had them in her handbag all along!) but thankfully it seems these inexperienced cinema goers do know how to take a hint after being shushed by a fourth or fifth consecutive person… Either that or the blind ninjas were better at their jobs than expected!

Overall Mrs Brown’s Boys D’Movie is exactly what you would expect, a fun comedic romp with flashes of genius in both performance and writing dotted throughout. O’Carroll is great at what he does and while Mrs Brown is well loved, it would be nice to see him branch out and test his skills elsewhere before returning for round two of his planned trilogy.

3/5