Film reviews: Horseshoe authentically skewers the Irish family dynamic

Cinematographer Jass Foley makes the most of the wild County Sligo landscape

Horseshoe's script raises interesting questions about how adult personalities are fired in the kiln of our formative years

Horseshoe 

★★★★☆

Those of you anticipating a Christmas period spent ducking the barbs of bickering siblings should look away now.

Horseshoe (15A) stars Carolyn Bracken as Cass Canavan, who reluctantly returns home to the West of Ireland to re-engage with her brothers Jer (Jed Murray), Niall (Neill Fleming) and Evan (Eric O’Brien) when their father Colm (Lalor Roddy) dies and leaves behind a contentious will. Cass and Niall want to sell the old family home (‘a building of bad memories’) and move on, while Jer wants to convert the house into a hostel and Evan is happy to go along to get along. 

The kicker, however, is that the decision needs to be unanimous and made within 24 hours, or Colm’s entire estate will go to the State. 

Can the warring siblings manage to agree just once in their entire lives? 

Written by Adam O’Keeffe, who co-directs with Edwin Mullane, Horseshoe authentically skewers the Irish family dynamic (the siblings, we’re told, have spent ‘a lifetime of tearing each other’s throats out’), although the tricky bit, which the film does very well, is doing so in way that’s both tragic and blackly hilarious. 

All of the characters have plausible reasons for selling up or staying put, and the four leads are equally strong as they regress to their childhood personas and the bitter in-fighting cultivated by the late but unlamented Colm, an abusive bully given a suitably vicious reading by the brilliant Lalor Roddy. 

Behind the verbal pyrotechnics, however, the script raises interesting questions about how adult personalities are fired in the kiln of our formative years, and whether we can transcend the lessons learned in childhood. 

Bleakly framed by cinematographer Jass Foley, who makes the most of the wild County Sligo landscape, Horseshoe is a hugely entertaining and bittersweet drama about the inescapable bonds of family. 

• Theatrical release

Eternity

★★★★☆

Callum Turner and Elizabeth Olsen in Eternity

Eternity (12A) stars Elizabeth Olsen as Joan, an elderly woman who finds herself in rather a pickle when she dies and wakes up in the Afterlife. 

Waiting for her is Larry (Miles Teller), her husband of 65 years, which is what Joan was hoping for; what she wasn’t expecting, however, was that her first love, Luke (Callum Turner) – a soldier killed during the Korean War – would have hung around in the Afterlife’s antechamber all these years, refusing to go on to his eternal reward so that he could be reunited with Joan. What’s a woman to do?

Written by Patrick Cunnane and David Freyne, with Freyne directing, Eternity offers a smart take on the traditional rom-com: Joan can only pick one of her beaus, and the choice is between steady old Larry or the passionately devoted Luke. 

All three leads are in good form here, and there’s plenty of good gags; the only caveat is that Joan’s dilemma is whether to choose between a very nice chap and an even nicer one. 

• Theatrical release

Oh. What. Fun.

★★★★☆

Michelle Pfeiffer, Denis Leary, Chloë Grace Moretz and Felicity Jones star in Oh. What. Fun.

Oh. What. Fun. (12A) stars Michelle Pfeiffer as Claire, a Texas mother of three who is desperate for her hard work over the Christmas period to be recognised by her husband Nick (Denis Leary) and her adult children Channing (Felicity Jones), Taylor (Chloe Grace Moretz) and Sammy (Dominic Sessa). 

Dedicated to the perfect Holiday experience, Claire quickly starts to unravel when her self-absorbed family get caught up in their own micro-dramas and take her for granted once more. 

Directed by Michael Showalter, Oh. What. Fun. celebrates ‘the true heroes of the Holidays,’ and Pfeiffer is good value as the weary, unacknowledged Claire, who isn’t just battling her family’s lack of appreciation but is locked into an ever-escalating competition with her frenemy Jeanne (Joan Chen) from across the street. 

A fine cast is fleshed out by supporting roles from Jason Schwartzman and Eva Longoria, and the result is a funny and charming yarn that may well end up on your list of rewatchable Christmas flicks. 

• Prime Video