Irish Horror-Comedy is Good-Natured Fun
Irish comedian Maeve Higgins delivers irresistible charm in the supernatural comedy “Extra Ordinary.” She reminds me of a kinder, gentler Phoebe Waller-Bridge. And in the right vehicle, Higgins could become a big deal.
In “Extra Ordinary,” she plays Rose Dooley, a hapless driving instructor by day and a ghostbuster at night. Well, she’s got the talent for ghost-busting, but she abandoned that field after the untimely death of her father. Through a series of old VHS tapes, we meet Rose’s dad (played by Risteard Cooper). Before his passing, he presented a television series devoted to ghost-busting. And whenever Rose needs words of encouragement or supernatural coaching, she pops in a tape from the library and “visits” with dad.
In the Irish town Rose inhabits, ghosts are commonplace. And the apparitions are of the common sort. A spirit might haunt a wheelie bin, a piece of gravel, or a simple object, like the cap of a ballpoint pen. These cumbersome, mundane ghosts prove to be annoying, and that’s where Rose comes in—ridding her rural community of pesky otherworldly malingerers. She’s just the woman for a good, old-fashioned exorcism, if you can convince her to do it, that is.
One day, she receives a call from a frustrated man named Martin Martin (Barry Ward). He’s a single father, whose daily routine is disrupted by the constant interference of his deceased wife. She won’t let him move on. When his daughter Sarah (Emma Coleman) suggests he call Rose, he decides to appease his daughter by taking a driving lesson. But when he meets Rose, there’s a potential spark between them.
Is the promise of a relationship with Martin enough to pull Rose back into the business of ghost-busting? And will Rose be able to thwart the evil intentions of one-hit rock and roller Christian Winter (Will Forte) in the process?
Read the rest of Jonathan’s review online and in print in the Times-Herald: https://newnan.com/2020/04/24/extra-ordinary-irish-horror-comedy-is-good-natured-fun/
Rent “Extra Ordinary” on KinoNow and proceeds will benefit Atlanta’s Plaza theater: https://kinonow.com/extra-ordinary-plaza-theatre