The Last of the High Kings (1996)

Pretty Good

Powerful

Awesome Movie

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

It is tempting to dismiss this as a condescending survey of the only semi-modernized Ireland of Irish-Americans nostalgia, overbearing on dry humor that is not funny to anyone not broadly familiar with Irish history and sociology, and particularly so since the lead roles are filled by Americans. Yet as anyone who has been to Ireland will discover, it is difficult to draw the distinction between the packaged commercialization of Irish culture and Irish culture itself--partially because entities like the Guinness Irish Pub Co. are just plain good at what they do, so that the Irish themselves get wrapped up in it. (Go to any well-designed "Irish pub" in a major U.S. city and I guarantee you will find Irish people drinking there themselves.) With this in mind, it is a shame they had to change the U.S. title to the rather bland, Hollywood-esquire "Summer Fling" presumably to get into the theaters, since pretty much everyone who would want to see this movie would understand "The Last of the High Kings." But I suppose I digress.Frankie Griffin is desperate to be "normal," yet stuck in a family of idiosyncrasies and waiting painfully for his exam results to return so that he can know whether he will be going to university. The film is not entirely clear what drives this desire for "normalcy," nor does it seem wholly sympathetic toward his somewhat immature proclamation of self-emancipation from the bonds of Catholicism, Fianna Fáil, and chastity. Frankie is apparently highly gifted in the letters and in music, yet he refuses to show this to anyone, even to the end. Perhaps, then, the admonition of his stern and quirky yet very loving mother that "There are plenty of good Protestants... It's a shame they're all dead" (along with accusing Jayne of being a "Protestant bitch," which she is, though not because of her Protestantism) is a hint that his true coming of age will only come with his embracing of his family and identity.The Last of the High Kings is a fun little ride when it takes us into those nostalgic facets of 1970's Ireland and despite its theme, admits that no one these days really comes of age by 17. It is not, however, one of my favorites, owing to its choppy progression and holding back of sympathetic notes for the main characters.

I purchased this movie because I wanted to see the acting that Catherine O'Hara was capable of, having seen her in Home Alone 1&2. She was marvelous. She was really funny and a really talented actor. She had the gift of making some parts of the movie funny and others, more saddening. All the other characters were also good and they also played their part wonderfully in making such a splendid film!!

This film didn't start off too badly, but things just got progressively worse. There was the occasional amusing scene, especially during the beginning, but I never found a reason to start liking these characters. When Christina Ricci showed up, I was hoping that she would give the film a shot in the arm, but her character was gone before she had time to make an impact. And so, the final half-hour was simply a chore to watch and a dreadful way to end a poor movie. There's nothing that I can recommend about this film, but I would certainly be interested in finding out why some North American actors were hired for Irish parts. My theory is that some Irish actors saw the script, and they were wise enough to pass on this bomb.

I was surprised when watching this movie at what a good actress Catherine O'Hara is. I have seen her in many roles before, but no other role let her shine as she did in this movie. I was also surprised at Jarod Leto's ability, and range. I would have liked to have seen more of Gabriel Byrne.