Professor Popinjay's Compendium of Perspicacity

A Non-Review by Professor Popinjay

(1998)

I love a film that doesn’t feel the need to cast only young beautiful people in the lead roles. Fairly sure not a single cast member besides the wee lad is under the age of 40 and the majority of the cast is over 70.

Waking Ned Devine is a movie about ethics really. You could go with complete and utter honesty and be the villain of this film or you could bend the rules a bit and be with the protagonists.

Ned Devine has in his hand the winning lottery ticket. There’s just one problem. He’s dead.

This is how his friends from his small Irish coastal village find him. The shock of winning obviously what done him in, his friends see fit to put him in his bed and close his eyes for the last time. 

But what’s to be done about this winning ticket? The best way to honor the passing of their dear friend Ned, they decide, is to follow his final wish. Having not been present when he passed, the two friends decide Ned’s final wish would obviously be to accept the money and divide it equally among the small handful of villagers. But this would require a bit of hilarious shenanigans.

And one villager isn’t on board.

Ian Bannen and David Kelly are fantastic in this! They’re so funny! Really the whole cast is great! There’s comedy, there’s drama, there’s suspense, there’s a naked elderly man on a motor scooter! This film has all of that and amazingly, no Tom Cruise!

Had Tom Cruise been in this movie, there would’ve been a lot more explosions which frankly, I’d certainly be in favor of. But hey, it is what it is.

I fully recommend this film. It’s a great story. It has great music that makes me want to pop on down to the pub and have meself a pint and brace o’ bangers! ‘Tis a fine film for St. Paddy’s too.

Éirinn go Brách!