ALL THAT GLEESONS ISN'T GOLD (FRANK OF IRELAND)

 

Anyone who was fortunate to see Brendan Gleeson and his sons in Enda Walsh's 'The Walworth Farce' in Dublin's Olympia Theatre six years ago will know how adept they are at physical comedy.

The trio are back together in the final episode of the Channel 4 and Amazon Prime's 'Frank of Ireland' - a sitcom vehicle created by his sons Brian and Domhnall Gleeson for themselves.

Both have made their mark in TV shows like 'Love/Hate,' 'Peaky Blinders' and 'Run,' while Domhnall in particular has enjoyed huge success in movies like 'Brooklyn', 'Ex Machina,' 'The Revenant' and the recent 'Star Wars' trilogy.

So why is this series so earth shatteringly disappointing?

Brian Gleeson plays Frank, a feckless 32 year old man child who lives at home in North Co Dublin with his mum, Pom Boyd's maneating Mary.

Frank fancies himself as a musician and a songwriter.

The problem is the songs he writes are pretty rubbish.

He is also a bit of a sponger and extremely selfish and for much of the series, he is mostly oblivious to the feelings of those around him - especially Domhnall Gleeson's wimpy but sweet natured best friend Doofus.

Frank also has an on-off girlfriend, Sarah Greene's Aine, who is a terrible singer.

Sarah is involved with Tom Vaughn Lawlor's obnoxious but fabulously wealthy doctor, Peter-Brian.

But is Frank capable of winning her back?

Over the course of six episodes, we see Frank cause mayhem at the funeral of Aine's grandmother which he treats as a gig when he is asked to sing a hymn.

In the next episode, Frank tries to prove he can look after Mary after she suffers an accident that results in her lying face down on the front lawn.

He attempts to expose Peter-Brian as a selfish philanderer but his plan goes awry when he ends up falling in love with his nemesis' lifestyle and wants to be his best friend.

After discovering Doofus has written a well received song for an amateur dramatics all female musical of 'Twelve Angry Men,' he tries to take it over as a platform for his own work. 

Frank in a subsequent episode resists his mother's attempts to relocate from the north Co Dublin suburbs to Wicklow by barricading himself inside the family home.

In the final episode, Mary, Doofus and Aine stage an intervention to turn Frank's life around involving his waster of a father, Brendan Gleeson's Liam.

Created and written by Brian and Domhnall Gleeson along with Michael Maloney, 'Frank of Ireland' has all the ingredients to be a great comedy.

The problem is, it just isn't.

Its first three episodes, in particular, are hugely dispiriting as one puerile joke is trotted out after another.

Gross schoolyard humour about anal sex, Mary flashing her vagjna, a cute dog peeing on Doofus, bags of watery poo and a liberal sprinkling of the f word and the occasional c word just doesn't cut it.

It's as if they have asked a group of 13 year old boys to write a sitcom.

As a result,'Frank of Ireland' by some distance lags behind other much funnier Irish sitcoms like 'Fr Ted,' 'Moone Boy,' 'Derry Girls' and 'The Young Offenders'.

A lack of editorial filter and discipline makes it a deeply uncomfortable watch.

So while Brian and Domhnall Gleeson might be aiming for the gross out humour of 'The Inbetweeners,' what you get is toe curling, sweary antics.

Initially you cannot help feeling that the kind of crude comedy it aspires to works better with young adults than in a show about a man child.

However Greg Davies' 'Man Down' is a sitcom about a man child that time to time gets away with crudity.

Unlike that show, 'Frank of Ireland' suffers from a central character that is so dislikeable that it's hard to have any sympathy for him or give him any licence to get away with toilet humour.

But it is also the way its vulgar humour is delivered that is so grating.

Indeed the writers could do well to learn from 'The Young Offenders' that a sitcom with less vulgarity and more heart has a much greater comic impact.

Brian Gleeson plays Frank with gusto but he struggles to achieve what all great comic creations from Basil Fawlty to Rigsby to Bernard Black do.

He simply fails to win our affections despite his character's monstrous or idiotic behaviour.

Like his turn as the stuffed shirt Thomas McGregor in the irritating family box office smash movie 'Peter Rabbit,' it is hard to see for much of the series what's in it for Domhnall Gleeson.

Doofus is such a limp comic role - although he works hard to engage our sympathies.

Sarah Greene and Tom Vaughn Lawlor have repeatedly shown in Irish television drama and film how talented they are.

They give their all but are let down by a very weak script. 

Ditto Pom Boyd.

Pat Shortt does his usual garrulous culchie comic schtick as Aine's am dram loving dad, Padraig.

Liz Fitzgibbon also does her best with the part of Doofus' kickboxing girlfriend.

Brendan Gleeson mugs to camera as Liam, while Ned Dennehy pops up in a one note role as Caoimhin - a glimpse into Doofus's future.

Paul Forman spends most of his time in a state of undress as a French student Stephane who moves in with Mary and Frank, while Paul Tylak's comic talents are completely wasted as another lodger. 

Not everything is a failure, though.

Under MJ Delaney's direction, the sitcom is well shot by James Mather and Ryan Kernaghan.

The fourth episode about 'Twelve Angry Women' almost works - partly thanks to Fitzgibbon and also Aisling O'Sullivan''s guest appearance as a hammy Dublin actress.

And while there is a slight improvement in the last three episodes, you feel if 'Frank of Ireland' is recommissioned, it is going to need be a lot more disciplined.

It needs someone who can pare back the vulgarity, its over reliance on cloying movie references, its cartoonishness and who can imbue the character of Frank with a shred of humanity.

As the reception for 'Pixie' has shown, some international audiences and critics can be taken in by raucous but frankly preposterous tales about Irish wasters.

However the distorted vision of Ireland and the Irish offered up in that movie was conjured in the fevered minds of an English producer director and his son with little feel for the country.

'Frank of Ireland' has no such excuses.

If it is to return, Domhnall and Brian Gleeson are going to have to massively up their game.

Flann O'Brien, it ain't and that's a huge pity.

('Frank of Ireland' was broadcast on Channel 4 in the UK and Ireland from April 22-May 27, 2021)

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