The Matchmaker

Bo Green Jensen in Weekendavisen compares The Matchmaker with "Local Hero" from 1983. That was also the film I found myself thinking of when I was introduced to the film. In that film American and Scottish culture collide. The same plot structure is found in The Matchmaker, which is simply set on the Emerald Isle, Ireland.

In The Matchmaker, the trusted American campaign worker Marcy Tizard is sent to Ireland, more specifically the town of Ballinagra, to track down the ancestors of Massachusetts senator John McGlory. He is doing so badly in the polls that only the Kennedy effect could save him. Unfortunately Marcy lands right in the middle of the annual matchmaking festival in the Irish village, which in no way makes her investigation easier. It turns out, of course, that the senator has no relatives whatsoever in the area, but the campaign manager Nick insists on staging a fictitious meeting between the senator and his 'family'. He does not get away with it. On the other hand, McGlory gets to take a genuine Kennedy home with him, Moira, who happens to be the ex-wife of the good-natured bloke Sean, who has taken not just a shine but a double shine to Marcy. The dating-agency owner and matchmaker Dermot O'Brien has long since put his money on Sean and Marcy running off together in the end, but there are many obstacles, not only cultural but geographical too.

The Matchmaker rarely gives rise to more than a chuckle, but its low-key humour suits the film rather well. Since the film is an expression of Hollywood's view of Ireland and the Irish, it has not avoided stereotypes, but apart from Denis Leary's wooden Nick, all the characters have such sympathetic traits that you cannot help empathising with them. That of course goes not least for the determined lady Marcy and her chosen one, Sean.