A Date For Mad Mary (NewFest)

It is important to understand in the totally enchanting Irish dramedy "A Date for Mad Mary" that the Mary (Se�na Kerslake) of the title is not mad in the conventional sense of the word. This is just a label hurled at her by people who simply do not know how to cope with her wild and nonconforming spirit. She has just been released from prison after a six-month stint for a vicious attack on a girl in a nightclub; the first words we hear from her mouth? "Bout fu-ing time!" she bellows at her mother (Denise McCormack) when she arrives a little late to pick Mary up.

Mary is due to be the Maid-of-Honor at her best friend Charlene's (Charleigh Bailey) wedding, but she soon discovers that while life may have stood still for her when she was in prison, everyone else has moved on. There is obviously friction between Mary and the rest of the girls in the wedding party, and even Charlene is rather cold towards her, creating a great deal of discomfort which often surfaces as open hostility.

Determined to be able to claim a plus one invite for the wedding, the socially awkward Mary sets about trying to find a date to accompany her. Although it is never clear what year this story was set in, it is obviously before the advent of online dating sites, as Mary finds herself at the local matchmaking agency to try and find herself a man for just one night. Scared of losing face, she almost convinces Charlene that she already has a boyfriend, but when Charlene spots the fellow in question making out with another man she begins to suspect Mary's claim and some of her other stories

Despite going on several blind dates with an assorted bunch of local men, Mary fails to gel with any of them. She does, however, spot someone who may do. The problem is that she is a girl. Jess (a very impressive Tara Lee) has been hired to video Charlene's wedding; when she and Mary lock eyes for the first time there is an instant connection. They literally dance around the idea of acting on their feelings when they keep meeting up, until one night the inevitable happens.

Despite all her bravado, there is this wonderfully soft and tender side to Mary, which is so apparent when she reads the heartfelt and very emotional speech that she intends to deliver at the wedding reception. Charlene, though, cannot ease up on being a total control freak, and insists that the other bridesmaid instead be the one to read a self-congratulatory speech that Charlene has written herself. She's oblivious as to how that hurts Mary, who she still claims is her best friend.

The movie is set in Drogheda, one of Ireland's oldest towns, and is the feature film directing debut of Darren Thornton, who, with his brother Colin Thornton, loosely adapted the script from Yasmine Akram's play "10 Dates for Mad Mary." The brothers make a compelling and very warm story of the material, revealing how this endearing young woman's bluff exterior is a defense mechanism against what she (rightly) perceives to be a society hostile to anyone who dares to be different, such as herself. Mary sees that there never will be much opportunity to escape her working class background or the small town mentality that seems to both confine and confuse her.

Yet when she is with Jess, Mary becomes a shy young woman trying to hold on to a fleeting moment of happiness -- a moment she soon finds out that she is totally unprepared to handle.

Kerslake is a fresh breath of air. Her pitch-perfect performance as Mary is a delight from start to finish. While she has all the natural innocence of her character, she somehow exudes the confidence of a much more mature actor. She is the main reason why this comic drama is such a joy to watch.

There is wonderful gentle humor imbued throughout the whole movie, of the type that we could only expect from an Irish film. That's yet another reason to put this one on the "must see" list.