SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Suman Roberson It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

Isbel A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Maddyclassicfilms The Playboys is directed by Gillies MacKinnon, is written by Shane Connaughton and Kerry Crabbe. The film stars Robin Wright, Albert Finney, Aidan Quinn and Niamh Cusack.Ireland, in the 1950's. The occupants of a village are scandalised when Tara(Robin Wright)gets pregnant without being married, she refuses to say who the father is. Tara is ostracised by everyone in the village apart from her sister Brigid(Niamh Cusack)and the local policeman, Sergeant Hegarty(Albert Finney).Hegarty loves Tara very much but is much older than her and she doesn't love him. He tries to be kind to her and offers to help her with the baby, she throws all his kindness back in his face and he gets very angry. Matters aren't helped by the arrival of a group of travelling actors. Tara falls in love with one of them, the funny and passionate Tom Casey (Aidan Quinn). Their growing relationship enrages Hegarty and the two become rivals for Tara.Finney gives the standout performance in this for me, he perfectly conveys a man who is not used to showing his feelings but tries very hard for the woman he loves. Finney also does a good job of portraying this mans anger slowly building up and up until it has to be released, one of his very best performances. Robin Wright is superb as Tara, Robin makes her tough and passionate. Aidan is a great deal of fun as the handsome travelling actor who falls for Tara.

TxMike It is rural Ireland and yearly a traveling show comes to town. They call themselves "The Playboys" because they do lots of different things, but feature different plays put on in a very small tent and on a vary small stage with minimal set. In one funny scene, we see towns people going to the movie house to see the film, "Gone With The Wind", and the next evening the Playboys are doing their stage interpretation of the same story, improvising after seeing the movie.Aidan Quinn is Tom Casey, one of the members of the show troupe. He seems to be an irregular in that he doesn't plan to make it a career like the others.Robin Wright is in full Irish accent as local townswoman Tara Maguire, single, and sharing a residence with her less pretty sister. Tara is the town scandal because she is pregnant out of wedlock, and she refuses to say who the father is. She and Tom are immediately attracted to each other, although she tries to keep her distance from the traveling show types.The other key character is Albert Finney as Constable Brendan Hegarty. He is the sheriff in this one-police town. However his regional supervisor is not always happy with his efforts.As Tom gets friendly with Tara, Hegarty becomes agitated and protective, seemingly wanting to prevent Tara from falling for this guy.It is a fairly interesting and entertaining story, and the acting is first-rate, especially by Albert Finney.SPOILERS: It turns out Hegarty is the father of Tara's child, in one encounter in the grass after she had a bit too much to drink. While Hegarty is madly in love with her, and wants her as his wife, she has no romantic feelings for him. As the movie ends Tara and Tom leave town, their fate unknown.

pwmushkat In the tradition of low-key Anglo-European films, this is a brilliant depiction of the meeting of an independent spirit with a closed community. This is one of their own so they will not condemn absolutely. At the same time they cannot understand why, or how, anyone can take a radically different path. Paraphrasing Victor Borge, this is acting that is so low key it is off the keyboard but because of that it resonates in a register that affects absolutely. Absotutely brilliant. This is what real movies are all about. See it! I don't really have any more to say but the instructions are that one has to write a minimum of 10 lines and/or 10,000 words. Hopefully this entry meets that minimum requirement because if this entry convinces one more person to see this movie it will have been worth it.

emuir-1 This film was billed as a drama. You could have fooled me. The productions of the travelling group of thespians are the funniest things I have ever seen.Forget the plot about the young unwed mother with two suitors and just watch the hilarious performances of the rag-tag travelling gypsy players who tour Ireland performing in a threadbare tent, led by the flamboyant actor manager played with gusto by Milo O'Shea. For those of you who are not familiar with this great Irish stage actor, Mr. O'Shea played Sam Malone's Irish Uncle in the Woody's Wedding two-part episode of Cheers, on TV. The troupe of players are not above changing the script to accommodate whatever actors or costumes are available, and they open up with a song and dance act, no matter what the play. Lines are read from cue cards, and even made up as they go along. Even Othello begins with a can can. You will never be able to watch Gone with the Wind with a straight face again after you have seen it performed as a musical in a tent in a small Irish town. I have not laughed as much since I saw the theatrical troupe in a Midsummer Night's Dream.The lead actors, Robin Wright and Aidan Quinn make an attractive couple, and Albert Finney does well as the heavy, but it is the players who make this movie such a joy.