[ FILM ]
JOYRIDE
Who doesn’t love a road trip? Oh.
★★★ OUT NOW / CERT 15 94 MINS
DIRECTOR Emer Reynolds
CAST Olivia Colman, Charlie Reid, Lochlann Ó Mearáin
PLOT Running away from his alcoholic gambling father, a young Irish boy named Mully (Reid) steals a taxi — only to find a mother (Colman) and her newborn baby both sleeping in the back seat. An unlikely road trip ensues.
YOU MIGHT THINK you have Joyride figured out. From the outset, this Irish comedy-drama seems to promise schmaltzy feelgood fun, a witty crowdpleaser in the Richard Curtis tradition. The first scene offers a cheesy pub singalong; its screwball comedy premise — an envelope of stolen charity money; a boy trying to escape his father; a mismatched road trip with a woman, a boy and a baby — is then breathlessly established in the opening ten minutes. (In such haste, it perhaps loses sight of plausible character motivation; would a middle-aged woman, even a desperate one, really not think twice about having a small boy drive her to the airport?)