Image: Barry Downes
Four Draws and a Loss: An Italia 90 Love Story
Cast: Hugh Grant, Andie McDowell, Jack Charlton, Mick Byrne, Silviu Lung
Tagline: "Did Schillachi score? I hadn't noticed"
Synopsis:
Bumbling thirty-something Dave O'Leary always finds himself at World Cup matches but never playing.
He turns up and watches 90 minutes of football as the lads contentedly grind out 1-1 and 0-0 draws (Comic relief is provided by the 0-0 draw against Egypt). While sitting on the bench he strikes up a rapport with Mick Byrne's assistant physio Carrie Carneiro. The pair engage in a tense, age old will-they, wont-they as they sit on the bench only half-watching Ireland's group games.
However, their relationship faces one big obstacle. Carrie is engaged to be married to Romanian goalkeeper Silviu Lung.
They fall out prior to the last 16 game against the Romanians and Carneiro ends up leaving the Irish team squad. However, she turns up in the stadium in Genoa to watch the game. O'Leary sits on the bench glancing at his watch as the game ticks towards its conclusion with the score still unsurprisingly 0-0. However, towards the end of extra-time, the manager "Jack" Big Charlton does the unthinkable and signals for him to get in there.
As the game heads for penalties, O'Leary fixes his eyes at the charmless Lung and decides he's going to take one. As Dave marches forward to take the decisive penalty he glances up at the Romanian end where he suspects Carrie might be. Carrie, sitting up in that exact spot, now finds she wants Dave to score and her husband-to-be to be beaten.
Both the nation and Carrie held their breath as Dave shoots home. Dave glances up at her just before he is mobbed by his jubilant teammates. Carneiro shows up beside the Irish team dugout for the quarter final match against Italy where O'Leary (happily on the bench again) meets her and the two share a passionate kiss as Ireland exit the tournament...
Featuring Hugh Grant as you've never seen him before and Andie McDowell as Carrie Carneiro
Score: Wet Wet Wet
Written and directed by: Richard Curtis
A Balls Media Production
