‘The Matchmaker’ Trades in Irish Charm

When the Irish finally take over the world, it’ll be the likes of “The Matchmaker” that people look back on and say, “Ahhhh, that’s how they caught us with our pants down. . . . “

You know the movie drill: singing, praying, quaint traditions, barely comprehensible accents and someone doing the John Wayne-quiet man routine. Or in the case of Janeane Garofalo--star of “The Matchmaker”--the decidedly unquiet woman.

Taking a large, large cue from Bill Forsyth’s “Local Hero,” Mark Joffe’s comedy finds Garofalo’s jaded politico Marcy Tizard in a land long ago and far away: Ireland, circa 1997, where she’s looking for the roots of her boss, the very un-Kennedy-esque John McGlory (Jay O. Sanders).

McGlory is an uninspiring and possibly stupid Massachusetts senator, and a guy who’d like to keep his job. Abetted by his scrofulous campaign manager Nick Ward (Denis Leary), the senator has dispatched Marcy to Ireland to find and / or create a link for him with the Ould Sod.

Marcy winds up in the tiny town of Ballinagra, which has little in the way of McGlorys, but is in the middle of a matchmaking festival. With the unwanted assistance of local marriage consultant Dermot (the elfin Milo O’Shea), her life gets turned around and upside down.

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Garofalo, likable if prickly, has perfected a persona based on a very ‘90s sense of ennui and purposeful impatience and cynicism. In “The Matchmaker” these qualities serve her well, although she has an entire nation to provide the counterpoint. It’s a charming place, and Marcy--as she becomes more disenchanted with Boston politics and more enamored of her Irish hosts--becomes more charming, too.

Her chief antagonist / fascination is Nick--played by David O’Hara, the lone Irish warrior of “Braveheart,” who shows a real talent for low-key comedy and understated seduction. Nick is assigned as Marcy’s unofficial guide, and when they get stuck on an island during a genealogical excursion, things warm up. When they get back to the mainland and Nick’s beautiful wife (Saffron Burrows) makes an appearance, the temperature plunges.

It’s becoming a cliche to say this, of course, but if you can’t see where this romance is going, you’re blind. In “The Matchmaker,” director Joffe does a lot of what he did in his 1992 comedy “Spotswood”--in which Anthony Hopkins’ uptight efficiency expert was won over by his blue-collar factory workers.

But while Joffe does swing a big shillelagh’s worth of Irish cliche, he also manages to get around the stereotypes frequently enough, at least, to provide some human comedy among the pseudo-leprechauns.

* MPAA rating: R for language. Times guidelines: adult situations, vulgarity.

Janeane Garofalo: Marcy

Jay O. Sanders: McGlory

Denis Leary: Nick

Olivia Caffrey: Annie

PolyGram Filmed Entertainment presents a Working Title production of a Mark Joffe Film. Director Mark Joffe. Producers Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Luc Roeg. Executive producer Lyn Goleby. Screenplay Karen Janszen, Louis Nowra, Graham Linehan, based on a screenplay by Greg Dinner. Photography Ellery Ryan. Production designer Mark Geraghty. Costumes Howard Burden. Music John Altman. Running time: 1 hour, 37 minutes.

* In theaters throughout Southern California.