Rating: R
Genre:
Comedy Drama
Theatrical Release: 02/04/2005(USA
Release Date: 06/14/2005
SubTitles: French/Espanol
Dubbed: English
Sound: DD5.1
Run Time: 105 Minutes
Flags: Adult Situations, Adult Humor, Profanity
Distributor/Studio: Universal Studios
Two guys facing more challenges than most people learn some valuable lessons about life and love in this
comedy drama.
Michael Connolly (
Steven Robertson) is a young man in his early twenties who suffers from cerebral palsy; confined to a wheelchair,
Michael's speech is unintelligible to all but a handful of people, and his situation has made him shy and withdrawn as he spends his days at a home for the disabled in Dublin. One day, a new arrival moves in at the home --
Rory O'Shea (
James McAvoy), a lad about
Michael's age who suffers from muscular dystrophy and can only use two fingers on one hand. This, however, hasn't stopped
Rory from developing a sharp tongue, a quick wit, a taste for alcohol, and the courage to put the moves on any women who crosses his path.
Rory can also understand
Michael's attempts at speech, and
Rory puts his outsized personality to work encouraging his new friend to become more outgoing and not to let life pass him by, despite his handicaps. In time,
Rory and
Michael are able to convince
Eileen (
Brenda Fricker), director of the home, that they should be allowed to get an apartment on their own, and the boys use their stipend to rent a flat and hire an assistant to help with the tasks they can't manage.
Rory chooses
Siobhan (
Romola Garai) for the job, mainly because she's blonde and pretty, and she soon becomes attracted to him; unfortunately,
Michael has fallen in love with her, and this leads to a major rift between him and
Rory that drives them apart. Screened in the United Kingdom as
Inside I'm Dancing and in the United States as
Rory O'Shea Was Here, the film won the Audience Award at the
2004 Edinburgh Film Festival.
~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide