flechette This film is a stinker. In an era when we can see SIX FEET UNDER and SCRUBS on the box, who would want to go to a cinema or pay good money to buy or rent this? It's set (with no real sense of place or time) in 80's Ulster. It's about toupee salesmen in irritatingly stupid situations with story lines wandering in a zillion pointless directions. It features music chosen at random from the Oirish songbook (and this was nominated for a music award!!!!!?????).What on earth Billy Connolly is doing in the film is beyond comprehension? He pops up from time to time at the start, disappears completely in the middle and makes a pointless final appearance at the end. But he's not alone: A police detective makes a strong appearance then vanishes from the film too.One suspects that this was a movie that came into the cutting room as a rescue job which never worked. It's a crying shame since there is a good comedy to made out of the conflict in the North of Ireland - but this definitely isn't it. Luckily, 4 years later, first time writer-director Terry Loane's "MICKYBO AND ME" (2004) filled the gap with style and higher production values despite being made on a fraction of EVERLASTING PIECE's budget. Be warned - AN EVERLASTING PIECE is just what it says on the tin - it seems to last forever with a mere 95 minutes feeling like 10 wasted hours. See MICKYBO AND ME instead. (I have no connection with either production team or am in any way partisan.)

horseradishfarm Everyone I've told about this movie loves it. It says a lot about friendship, love (parental, fraternal, egocentric, altruistic) and about a country bifurcated by war and misunderstanding. As usual, with movies made in Ireland and Britain, the humor is broad and subtle at the same time and even the very minor characters are fully drawn. If ever there was a time for this film it's now. With surreal humor (although what is surreal these days?) it explores the meaning of hate, love, war and forgiveness. It is a movie about common lives that are circumscribed by conflict and about the way people cope with impossible and untenable situations: with the way, in short, that they survive. And it's funny! Billy Connelly as "Scalper" is, as usual, over the top in the best sense.

herbqedi Barry Levinson is a very clever director (and writer). He obviously gathered a lot of information and insight on the pressure-cooker known as Northern Ireland. He delights in the borough's eccentricities and predilections. And, he endows his main characters with appropriate peculiarities. The unfolding of events is true to traditions of the region's humor and the indigenous cast know their character well and eat and breathe the area's history.But, we don't! Nor are we ever brought into it. Therefore the entire exercise seems contrived and self-important. It reminds me of being at a spouse's company party and hearing people reference people and projects that you know and understand nothing about -- yet you do not have the option of leaving the party. It is a series of inside jokes -- but we, the American audiences, are stuck on the outside.

Jim Ruddy (ruddy_jim) An Everlasting Piece is a funny, witty and at times dark movie based on the escapades of a Protestant and Catholic barber who team up to take over the toupee market of Northern Ireland. If you look for deeper meaning in this movie you will find important moral lessons and some insight into the nature of conflict in general. There are dozens of quotable lines present, Billy Connolly has some real gems.Having never been to Northern Ireland, I believe this movie has given me some limited insight into 1980's Belfast. Most of the main characters are Catholic-Irish, and the film does seem slightly sympathetic to that side. If you are looking for more information on the atmosphere and troubles in N. Ireland I recommend reading Bad Blood, by Colm Toibin.The plot is fine 6/10 The humour is great 9/10 The dramatic element is good 7/10 Overall I'd give 7.5/10