Wild Mountain Thyme Movie Review

Before we get into the review ‘Wild Mountain Thyme’ itself, I’d like to first give you some history on its writer/director, John Patrick Shanley. In 1988, he snagged the coveted gold statue that everyone wants; he won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for the movie ‘Moonstruck.’

He also wrote and directed the phenomenal film ‘Doubt’ starring Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Amy Adams. In his day, he has written a great deal of screenplays, including ‘We’re Back! A Dinosaur’s Story,’ ‘Congo,’ ‘Joe Versus the Volcano,’ and ‘The January Man.’ Now, he offers us this film.
‘Wild Mountain Thyme’ is based on his play’ Outside Mullingar,’ which ran on Broadway in 2014. Looking at Shanley’s past work, it’s safe to say he knows how to write a good story. Not all of them are flawless, no, but no one’s perfect, right? Shanley writes to entertain, which is a goal he’s altogether capable of achieving. As planned, he does that here. His new movie is his romantic ode to Ireland. The story is about two family farms and the families that tend to them. The farms run next to one another, so they’re all friends and get along well. We have a little twist, though. Neighbors may be close in proximity and closer still in rapport, yet never reveal that something divides them, almost to the point of rupture. This happens to be a road with two gates. More about that later.

We open on Tony Reilly, played by the Irish accent-free Christopher Walken, welcoming us to Ireland. Did I mention that he’s dead? He reveals that if an Irishman dies while he’s telling a story, you can rest assured that he’ll be back. No, this is not some kind of ghost story. He just impresses upon the audience his appreciation for the beautiful lands he never wants to leave. We see that sprawling beauty during his voice over. Shanley gives us sheep, cows, rivers, and gorgeous green fields. Some of the farms we watch go by on the screen belong to Tony, his wife Mary, and his son Anthony, played by ‘Fifty Shades of Grey,’ Christian Grey himself, Jamie Dornan.
The farm next to Tony’s belongs to the Muldoon’s. There’s Chris, his wife Aoife, played exceptionally well by Dearbhla Molloy, and their daughter Rosemary played by Emily Blunt, from ‘The Devil Wears Prada.’ Outside of some of the spirited, tongue-in-cheek dialogue coming from Molloy, Emily has the best role in the film and handles it as well as she could. She’s amusing and charming when she needs to be and offers the romantic gestures necessary to fill the gaps where there are none in the script. Rosemary has had eyes for Anthony since youth and carries them still, but how much longer can she keep the torch when he makes no moves towards her?

It’s now, years later. Mary is gone, and Aoife just buried Chris. Somehow knowing that death is likely right around the corner, don’t ask me how one knows this, Tony and Aoife muse about their own deaths. The funeral has brought Anthony and Rosemary together. Or has it? It seems only Anthony knows the answer, and he isn’t giving any hints.
Tony feels he’s on his way out, so he’s now thinking of selling the family farm to Anthony’s American cousin Adam, played by Jon Hamm. He’s a handsome, wealthy show off who notices Rosemary and she him, but even so, she still has eyes for that gorgeous, sweet honeybee, Anthony, who stung her heart so long ago.
Should she take a chance on love with this American who can whisk her away from the only thing she loves that has loved her back, her farm? That seems to be the bigger question. When Anthony finds out that Adam has come back into the picture, he has a choice. Kick the birds and the bees into high gear or lose out on love. By bringing Adam into the picture, Tony’s hoping Anthony will finally wake up and marry. This talk of love aside, more than a romance, this film is about gambling on the fact that someone or something will be there for you when it really counts.

The movie is getting a lot of flack for the fact that members of the cast could hardly get the thick Irish accent right. YOU try that brogue! It isn’t easy! I thought what the film lacked was the amour that it promised on the poster. That’s what people should be concentrating on, not the vernacular. If you can muster a halfway decent Irish accent that doesn’t pull me from the story, you’re all right by me. You won’t really notice. However, Walken did drop his a bit too often, so I’ll give them that, but the cadence needed to pull off an Irishman? That’s a hard ask.
‘Wild Mountain Thyme’ isn’t a must-see by any stretch, but it isn’t terrible. It’s a love story without love, so that’s somewhat puzzling, but if you like the cast, and you will, it’s worth a watch. The score is good, the cinematography is impeccable, and with that, Dearbhla Molloy simply can’t be missed.

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