You’ve heard the cautionary line, “Be careful what you wish for,” since you might just get it. Madeline Kelly (Lindsay Lohan) is a talented editor who becomes a reluctant ghostwriter for a successful and ego driven Irish born novelist named Paul Kennedy (Alexander Vlahos). When the movie begins she is getting out of a cab as he is emerging from a much fancier vehicle at a premier of his next book, all eyes, including hers, on him. Their interactions make it seem as if they are a couple, not just colleagues. The flirtation, the eye contact, the sizzling energy between them is misleading, since Paul views Maddie as a means to an end. She has been enamored of him for much of the time they have worked together, but is too timid to tell him.
On the night of the book launch, Paul meets her two best friends, Emma (Elizabeth Tan) and Heather (Ayesha Curry) and in a flirtatious moment that involves fake eyelashes, he is beguiled by Emma. Maddie notices with dismay and plans to tell Paul her true feelings. She finds him sitting alone at the hotel bar and figures this is her chance. She looks into his eyes and mustering her courage as he says he wants to take their relationship to the next level. It isn’t what she had hoped and instead, he asks her to become even more involved in their professional endeavors. In the meantime, she has had a book in the drawer that she has wanted to write, but hasn’t had the time.
Fast forward and three months later, Maddie finds herself traveling to the Emerald Isle for the wedding of Paul and Emma. She does her best to put on a brave face as she takes the leap across the pond. At baggage claim, she gets into a tussle with another passenger, a British photographer James Thomas (Ed Speleers) over a look alike bag. I kept wondering why the actor looked so familiar. It wasn’t until afterward when I searched his name and it turns out that he played Jack Crusher (the son of Beverly Crusher and Jean-Luc Picard on the Paramount series Star Trek: Picard.) This is not the last time their paths will cross, this being a rom-com.
Maddie’s desire to be with Paul so overwhelms her that she goes to a scenic spot, one of many in Ireland, called St. Brigid’s well. She sits on a wishing chair and casts a wish out into the universe that she be the one marrying him. There before her, is an incarnation of St. Brigid whimsically played by Dawn Bradfield who shows up numerous times after their initial encounter, as she reminds her that things are not always as they seem. With a whoosh of wind and a scattering of flower petals, Maddie finds herself in her new reality. The more she immerses herself in it, the more imperfections she notes in her erstwhile Prince Charming.
Remember I said that Maddie and James would reconnect? Without giving too much away, know that there is more to him than meets the eye.
Two standout appearances are Maddie’s mother, Rosemary Kelly, portrayed by iconic actor Jane Seymour who is never actually in the same room with her but via phone and Facetime, and the Irish landscape. Having taken a trip of a lifetime to Ireland in 2018 to celebrate turning 60, I smiled in recognition of Dublin and The Cliffs of Moher and felt myself there on the windswept path overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.
The takeaway message for me is that it is important to know what you truly want and to declare it with your heart and soul, giving voice to your desires. There is a Gaelic term, anam cara, popularized by Irish poet, philosopher and theologian John O’Donohue, which translates to soul friend. Rest assured that Maddie finds hers.
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This Post is republished on Medium.
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Photo credit: iStock
