Extra Ordinary

It's a lovely feeling when you leave the cinema still laughing at what you've just watched. It's even better when you've genuinely enjoyed what you've just watched and you aren't laughing ironically as is far too often the case. The very last word spoken in Extra Ordinary creased me up and 3 hours later it's still making me smile. It will make you smile too. TBH you'll be smiling throughout Extra Ordinary because it's a joy.

Rose (Maeve Higgins) has tried to reinvent herself as a driving instructor but the vast majority of the phone calls she receives are to do with her former life as an investigator of the paranormal. It's a life she's been desperately trying to get away from but a call from Martin Martin (Barry Ward) revives her interest when she finds herself attracted to him. On the other side of town a failing musician called Christian Winter (Will Forte) is trying to revive his music career and he's turned to the supernatural to do so. His evil ways set him, Rose and Martin on a collision course with each other.

From it's opening scenes of the world's most inconsiderate rubbish collector and a cutlery drawer haunted by a ghost from Italia 90 to it's insanely Irish final moment Extra Ordinary is a success. It's that rare beast, a horror comedy that manages to be both hilarious and spooky while retaining a big gooey emotional core. Amidst the ectoplasmic puking, mistaken wolfmen and 7-up tears there's a touching story about loneliness and dealing with grief and channelling both into something positive that will strike a chord with many viewers. It's adds a lovely depth to a genre that often only gets mined for shock value.

Horror and comedy turn out best when you give a shit about the characters on screen and Extra Ordinary runs like a charm here. The pairing of Rose and Martin just works. From the moment they meet you want them to be together and their every scene is a delight. Toasted sandwiches, mints, juice boxes, gagging, Biddy from Glenroe, a quick punch in the arm, their palpable chemistry. Maeve Higgins and Barry Ward bounce off each other effortlessly and we get to love the results. Higgins really sells the awkwardness and loneliness of Rose's life and Ward, late in the film, shows a flair for physical comedy that will leave you sore from laughing. Just wait til that fag appears. Deadly.

Will Forte though, as Christian just rocks it. He's hammier than a lovechild of Al Pacino and Joan Crawford and he just goes for it with all guns blazing as a comedy villain who's masterplan is actually really feckin sinister. It's in his scenes that director Mike Ahern & Enda Loughman's love for the horror genre really becomes apparent. Nods to the Exorcist and The Devil Rides Out hit home, animal familiars, one very unexpected scene of gore will take your breathe away and the climax reaches a fever pitch that will have you fearing for our heroes while breaking your heart laughing too. It's wild stuff and goes to places few Irish films have dared to thread while treating us to some very impressive visual fx into the bargain.

Extra Ordinary has easily jumped into my top 10 of 2019. I'm not saying that because it's an Irish film. I'm saying it because it's warm, funny, unsettling and very entertaining. The fact that it's Irish is the icing on the cake. All that and it has the best goat scene ever. Go see it. Now, quick, run.