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White Irish Drinkers

WHITE IRISH DRINKERS (John Gray). Opens Friday (March 25) at the Royal. See listing. Rating: NN


Young Brian Leary (Nick Thurston) is a would-be artist with some serious talent but some bad influences, too: older brother Danny (Geoff Wigdor), a petty criminal who’s bent on taking Brian along for the ride, and father Paddy (Stephen Lang), an abusive drunk. If it all sounds familiar, that’s because you’ve seen better takes on the subject before.

Writer/director John Gray, who grew up in 70s-era Brooklyn, attempts to do for his old working-class Irish neighbourhoods what Boyz N The Hood did for Compton.

But Gray’s attempt at a coming-of-age tale has a serious lack of conviction. He claims that real people and experiences inspired his story, but the sense of authenticity of many autobiographical movies is missing from these characters, who speak like they’ve been written for bad television.

Gray tries hard to recreate the era by throwing in a whole lot of period references. Rocky Horror Picture Show gets a mention, and the plot revolves around a Rolling Stones concert. But that’s just window dressing for a screenplay that tries to be clever and funny but ultimately feels earnest and laboured instead.

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