Irish Wish

Grade: B-

Almost a year and a half after taking Netflix by storm with the surprisingly successful Hallmarky romcom Falling for Christmas, Lindsay Lohan is back, just in time for St. Patrick’s Day, with Irish Wish. For all its predictability and cheesiness, I somehow fell for Falling for Christmas, which is a miracle on 34th Street right there. Irish Wish is Lohan’s second movie in a 3-picture deal with Netflix. At the end of the year, Our Little Secret will take us back to Christmas to close out her trilogy.

Irish Wish tries its best to be a love letter to somewhere that’s green. There are some beautiful views of the Ireland scenery. It’s The Banshees of Inisherin without the boundless originality, heart, and wit. Lohan stars as Maddie, the editor for Paul Kennedy, a famous author. He gets all the credit and glory, while she is always in the shadows, making his books better. She’s ok with this for now, because of the enormous crush she’s been nursing on him ever since she started working for him.

To Maddie’s chagrin, Paul falls in love with Emma (one of her lifelong best friends) instead. She has to grin and bear it as a bridesmaid at Paul and Emma’s wedding in Ireland. Everyone stays at Paul’s sprawling mansion, which is like Saltburn without the…Saltburnness. Maddie has a Meet Cute – of the suitcase confusion variety – with a traveling professional photographer named James. They share a bus ride and a few zingers, until she’s dropped off at Paul’s estate. While on a walk, she sits down on a stone wishing chair – where St. Brigid suddenly materializes and goads her into saying the words “I wish I were marrying Paul Kennedy.”

She wakes up the next morning, as Paul’s fiancé. Most everything’s the same, except it’s Maddie Paul is marrying, and Emma is now a bridesmaid. As she finds out, the grass isn’t always the greenest, even in Ireland. As the boorish traits of Paul’s personality emerge, Maddie begins to have her doubts. Meanwhile, in this alternate universe, James has lucked into being the wedding photographer. He is sweet, seems like a better fit for Maddie than Paul, and she begins to question what she really wants.

Irish Wish is a slight step down from Falling for Christmas. It feels a bit more manufactured, safe, and though a comedy, it’s not that funny. However, I continue to be happy about Lohan’s comeback; she makes a fine queen of the holiday-themed screwball romantic movies. This is a pretty cast; I have a thing about women in flannel shirts. By the time we get to the third act, it’s obvious what will happen, we just don’t know how it will happen, so we patiently wait for it to play out. Irish Wish has enough in the tank for me to recommend it slightly, but could this be the beginning of diminishing returns? We’ll see how the Lohan Netflix trilogy concludes.

Grade: B-