It’s Sex for the Ages in ‘Love in Kilnerry’? (Movie Review)
Love in Kilnerry
Rating: 9/10
Director & Writer: Daniel Keith
Style: Comedy
Time: 100 minutes
Trailer: https://vimeo.com/228152664
Website: www.LoveInKilnerry.com
Review by Mike Szymanski
Very rarely these days do you finish a movie with a smile on your face, and this is one where you do. (And you don’t feel bad about having that smile.)
“Love in Kilnerry” isn’t a schmaltzy movie, in fact, it’s one of the bawdier movies I’ve seen lately. But, as naughty and nasty as it may appear at first, it’s as sweet and silly, too. And funny, yeah, very funny.
Put together a priest who reveals he’s a nudist, a sheriff who never dates, a crazy card store owner without any customers, a mailman who dances, a spinster who thinks everyone is about to molest her, and many other oddball characters and put them in a small mountain town and you’ve got “Love in Kilnerry.” It’s like a live version of “South Park” or a softer version of “Letterkenny.”
Virtually every actor who plays these quirky characters in this clever screenplay has a moment where they steal the movie, which shows what a strong cast this ensemble really is.
Daniel Keith not only stars in the film as the lonely handsome Sheriff Gary, but he directed and wrote the film. He first wrote this story as a play while appearing as an actor in “The Blacklist” and “Luke Cage.” He performed the play in local theaters for small audiences. He raised $5,000 to turn it into a screenplay and made a short reel in Portsmouth, New Hampshire which helped him raise $1 million to complete the film.
He brought 200 cast and crew members to the small town and convinced “Last of the Mohicans” composer Randy Edelman to create an upbeat, light musical score for this quirky little film.
In such a short time going to film festivals, the movie already won 45 award and 26 nominations including at the San Diego International Film Festival, as well as in New Hampshire, Madrid, SoHo, and Manhattan Film Festivals for Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actors and Best Choreography.
The real-life location of Portsmouth signed a proclamation to rename the city to “Kilnerry” that makes every April 9 “Kilnerry Day.”
As the Sheriff, Keith plays the role with stoic distance who observes the town he’s grown up in, and he takes care of his seemingly senile dad, who is the local mailman (played marvelously by Roger Hendricks Simon).
At a town meeting a reluctant Environmental Protection Agency representative played by Debargo Sandal who explains that the governmental agency has put a bi-product called P-172 into their local chemical plant that could dramatically increase the sexual libido of the town’s population when it gets into their drinking water.
That wacky premise is the jumping-off point for the whole town going mad. One closeted gay plant worked worries that the chemical will turn everyone gay, and one older spinster Aednat (played brilliantly by Sybil Lines) worries that the town will turn into one giant orgy and become a place of debauchery. Of course, she is the first one to beg for sex and scream “just tear away the cobwebs and have me.” Her character transforms from a tight ugly woman into a fun-loving dancing fool, but with class all the way.
The town gossip Brigid is played by Sheila Stasack, and she ends up falling for the town mayor, played by Tony Triano. Their coupling is both wild and hysterical.
James Patrick Nelson is also a comic prize as the volatile priest who suddenly has an epiphany that everyone should be naked like Adam and Eve were in the Bible. He and the Mayor are constantly fighting and have a grudge that goes back 15 years and the Sheriff has been trying to arbitrate it for a long time.
The P-172 chemical additive into the water system seems to cause everyone to go a bit wild, including sex orgies with weird masks on, and people willing to discuss their kinky desires.
The Sheriff’s dad says he went on Grindr and wonders why everyone calls him “Daddy” and he sends pictures of his old jalopy when they ask for photos of his “junk.”
Kathy Searle portrays the crazy love-sick card shop owner named Nessa, who the town thinks is a bit bonkers. She is about to send her brother Stevie (portrayed by a handsome Jeremy Fernandez).
The Sheriff is somewhat embarrassed about his father who doesn’t seem to know how to monitor his outbursts. Yet, the Sheriff does have his own secret habit of heading out to the ocean in his boat and dancing on his own to get out his frustrations.
What a fun film. And these days, anything that will put a smile on your face is worth your time.
The movie has just been picked up by Regal Cinemas in over an additional 35 markets through August (including New York City, Los Angles, Miami, Nashville, Seattle, and Washington, DC). Its Los Angeles premiere is set for Aug. 19. It will be available for purchase and rent this October.
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