Be careful who you wish for.
Irish Wish follows editor and aspiring writer Maddie (Lindsay Lohan, Mean Girls) who has forever been in love with her boss Paul Kennedy (Alexander Vlahos) whose books she edits for a living. Maddie hopes to make her feelings known to Paul on the night of his latest book launch but her best friend Emma (Elizabeth Tan) gets there first and instantly strikes up a connection with him. Months later the pair fly to Ireland to marry and Maddie reluctantly tags along, secretly hoping she were the one getting married instead. After then making a wish on a wishing bench Maddie wakes up to find herself in an alternate reality where she is in fact marrying Paul and has been dating him for months now.
Initially ecstatic, Maddie begins her wedding preparation, including scoping out the area for a venue with local photographer James (Ed Speleers, You). As she gets to know James however a connection is made and she begins to realise how little she and Paul really know about each other. With her wedding day quickly approaching can Maddie make her mind up on who she wants and what she wants to do with her life or will one misspent wish send her spiralling into a life she never wanted in the first place?
I enjoyed the basic setup here of wishing yourself into another life because I think that it’s something everyone can relate to. Whether you’ve wanted a different job or a new partner or even a completely new start everybody has fantasized about changing something and this film takes that concept and really runs with it. We first see Maddie pining for Paul from afar but after her wish goes wrong we see her inserted into her own personal fantasy, realising first-hand that sometimes dreams aren’t everything we hope they are. Instead she gains this real connection with James instead of the make-believe one with Paul, really forcing her to consider the difference between true love and wishful thinking.
Irish Wish wasn’t exactly anything ground-breaking for the romance genre but it was still so much fun to watch, filled with all of the wonderful clichés that we’ve come to know and love. Films like this are perfect when you just want to sit back and relax and I personally love watching them, especially the recent collection of Netflix produced ones. I also love Lindsay Lohan (obviously) and it’s nice seeing her returning to her romcom roots, only this time in more grown up roles, it something we love to see.
This film isn’t exactly subtle in its Irish stereotypes and every other character seems to be either sporting green, tartan or some form of horrendous accent (or often all three), which was both hilarious and oh so tragic. I definitely don’t think any real research was done here and I don’t even think there’s a single Irish cast member in the whole film (none of the main stars anyway) despite the entire story centring so much on the country and its traditions. Like I said above this is just a romcom and not meant to be taken massively serious but the complete lack of any research attempt is still a bit weird and I can’t imagine the people or Ireland are going to take to well to this film.
Overall Irish Wish was a fun feeling romcom with some classic genre clichés and great chemistry between our two leads, I loved seeing Lohan back on the romantic comedy scene. I liked how the film explored wishing and these perfect lives we imagine for ourselves versus the actual realities and want vs need. The film did go a bit hard on the Irish stereotypes but on the whole this was a fun watch and definitely one to watch if you’re ever in the romantic kind of mood.
Ramblings of a Supposed Writer 