
Wide Open Spaces (2009)
Have you ever had a best friend you couldn’t stand? Myles (Ardal O’Hanlon) has one – Austin (Ewen Bremner) – only he’s too much of a slacker to do anything about it. In fact, each one of these layabouts is as useless as the other: a pair of thirty-somethings who laze around watching their lives flutter past. Fate, however, has plans to remedy their lack of motivation. Up to their necks in debt, they decide to help a dodgy entrepreneur, Gerard (Owen Roe), to create a new landmark in Irish tourism: a Famine Theme Park.
Reviews
“O’Hanlon and Bremner, the first morose, the second a tad more frantic, form an effective double act and, aided by Hall’s loose-limbed camera moves, the film has a grungy feel that suits the grim subject matter nicely.”
The Ticket, The Irish Times, 2009
“The interplay between Messrs. Hanlon and Bremner – doing intellectual malcontent and blissful ignoramus, respectively – is classically constructed and executed with aplomb: the damp existentialism is carefully counterweighted by outbreaks of zaniness.”
Hot Press, 2009
“Wide Open Spaces is a darkly absurd Irish comedy which comes direct from the brain of Arthur Mathews – the sometime comic genius behind everything from the Fast Show to Black Books, Brass Eye and, of course, Father Ted.”
Click, 2009
International Sales Agent: E1 Entertainment
Written by
Arthur Mathews
Directed by
Tom Hall
Producer
Paul Donovan
Executive Producer
Michael Garland
Co-Producers
Clare Kerr
Ailish McElmeel
Cast
Ewen Bremner
Ardal O'Hanlon
Owen Roe
Morweena Banks
Don Wycherley