Tarek works as an IT guy in an office. Due to the many overtime, the relationship with his wife has cooled. When a handsome intern starts and he develops feelings for her, he decides to enroll in a resort where they will be secretly coupled, or so the promise is. But once there, mysterious things begin to happen.
Several Australians lent their not inconsiderable talents to The Matchmaker, but you wonder if it was worth the trouble. This quite unbelievable romantic comedy stars Janeane Garofalo as Marcy Tizard, aide to a bland American politician, Jay .O. Sanders, whos up for re-election and who needs the Irish vote in his Massachusets constituency. So he sends Marcy, without any hotel reservation by the way, to the Irish village of Ballinagra, which is where his family apparently hails from. Its a wonder Marcy finds any accommodation at all, because Ballinagra is in the midst of a matchmaking festival – but she stays and starts a fruitless search for her bossancestors - while finding herself, as a single, eligible female, a desirable addition to the matchmaking festivities...With names like Mark Joffe as director and Louis Nowra as co-screenwriter Id expected a lot more from The Matchmaker. Apart from the many improbabilities of the plot, this is a remarkably bland romantic comedy, filled with the most stereotypically Irish “characters” seen on screen since The Quiet Man – and what was charming and fun in 1953 doesnt look quite so charming today. I couldnt work out what on earth Marcy sees in Sean (David OHara) or why Milo OShea is overacting so much as Dermot, the chief matchmaker. Thank goodness for Ellery Ryan`s lovely widescreen photography.
