Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: FINNEGAN’S FOURSOME [Tribeca Film Festival - New York, New York]

Ed Burns has tried different things over the years but with his latest "Finnegan’s Foursome" [Spotlight Narrative], he has created something very accessible but also something important to him. He relayed in his Q&A that he connected to golf through his father after his mother died during COVID. He was trying to find the right thing to connect with and "Foursome" is about going back to Ireland to spread the ashes of a patriarch who had different relationships with all his relatives (especially his two children and grandchildren) involved. It is a beautiful thing because every family is complicated. Granted the film is intent heavy but it provides a walk and talk conceit that is actually great for Burns' quippy dialogue which is as sharp as ever. However when the film really works is in the more quiet family dynamics that are set up because of those quips. One involving singing in a pub of a song called "The Parring Cup" by three of the four cast members as Burns looks on is very powerful. The same is shown in a bench scene on the final par of the courses they play across Ireland. The locations are beautiful and kudos because it shows Ireland in a different light than usual...but the power is in these four characters because they take the piss out of each other and it slices when it needs to be...and shows the love just as potently.

Burns and Brian D’Arcy James are just right as brothers (James has been in many of Burns' films) and Erica Hernandez and Brian Muller as their respective kids work great on this path to honor their grandfather. A love for the sport helps to enjoying the film but is not necessary. Hernandez and Burns thread the line with her character which comes off with the perfect pitch which can be tricky is an almost boys club like this. The tone also has that inherently Irish bent while still feeling very American. Even the way the game is player reflects this. As Burns said in the Q&A, he was able to rewrite if they got a different shot or putt which is something you couldn’t do with someone unless you had the trifecta like Burns. As a writer/director/actor, he can pivot. Also his approach and look is so much more relaxed even than it was before. It gives a different feel than one perhaps expects from him. It is just different...and in a good way...and not to discount the old. And while the end is a big saccharine, it is perfect in the context of what we are seeing. The characters take the piss out of each other and create different levels of love, jealousy, hurt, joy and animosity which feels just exactly right. "Finnegan’s Foursome" is what it is but in understanding its characters empathy and heart, it becomes much more than what it might have been. This is because of good writing, adept direction but also a sense of joy and fun that is sometimes lost on a lot of films. A-

By Tim Wassberg