It's 1991 Branagan, Michigan. Marie (Neve Campbell) is burying his dead father Chuck. Her mother Ethel Ann (Shirley MacLaine) is unmoved by his death and more concerned about Marie and her boyfriend Peter. She is comforted by Jack (Christopher Plummer). In Belfast, Quinlan (Pete Postlethwaite) and Jimmy Reilly are digging up the wreckage of a B-17. Jimmy finds a ring. Back in 1941 Belfast, Northern Ireland, Ethel Ann (Mischa Barton) is friends with Jack (Gregory Smith) and Chuck. Teddy Gordon (Stephen Amell) is building a house for her and she's in love. Jack, Chuck and Teddy are all going up in B-17.
The movie moves back and forth too much and too easily between the time periods in the beginning. The three plot lines don't mash together well. The modern day Irish story is stuck out in the middle of nowhere with its own world. Jimmy could have just showed up with the ring without Belfast. Richard Attenborough is going old school with this romance drama. There is something lacking in the 1941 story. The actors are probably not up to the same standard as their older self. Gregory Smith's little mustache is silly. David Alpay and Stephen Amell are lifeless. Mischa Barton tries but she's too frail unlike the ballsy broad that is Shirley MacLaine. It's probably asking too much for the two young actors to try to be MacLaine and Christopher Plummer. Those two elder statesmen exude real acting power. Their section with Neve Campbell is a great little indie.
The movie moves back and forth too much and too easily between the time periods in the beginning. The three plot lines don't mash together well. The modern day Irish story is stuck out in the middle of nowhere with its own world. Jimmy could have just showed up with the ring without Belfast. Richard Attenborough is going old school with this romance drama. There is something lacking in the 1941 story. The actors are probably not up to the same standard as their older self. Gregory Smith's little mustache is silly. David Alpay and Stephen Amell are lifeless. Mischa Barton tries but she's too frail unlike the ballsy broad that is Shirley MacLaine. It's probably asking too much for the two young actors to try to be MacLaine and Christopher Plummer. Those two elder statesmen exude real acting power. Their section with Neve Campbell is a great little indie.