Songs for Amy – Review by Frances Winston

Directed by: Konrad Begg

Starring: Sean Maguire, Lorna Anderson, Barry Ward, Ross McMahon, Ford Kiernan, Kevin Ryan, Patrick Bergin

Set predominantly in Galway this romantic drama sees English actor Sean Maguire revisit both the Irish accent that he used during his stint on EastEnders playing troubled teen Aiden and the vocal talents that landed him a short lived post soap pop career.

He plays Sean, a musician who lost the love of his life Amy (Anderson) after an unfortunate night’s parting with Alabama 3 the night before his wedding. With her now enjoying a new life in New York where she is dating pop singer JJ Fitzgerald (Ryan) he spends his days in the Salthill Studios recording a series of songs that he has written for her in the hope that if she hears them he will win her back.

Unfortunately for Sean her relationship with JJ is rapidly hotting up and the next time he encounters her is when she has returned to Ireland for her lavish wedding to the pop star forcing him to give up his hopes of reconciliation once and for all. That is unless Sean’s friends can get some dirt on JJ and have Amy listen to the album he made for her.

This is shamelessly sentimental from the off with plenty of dreamy flashback sequences used to reinforce how much he really loved Amy. These are made bearable by the stunning Galway scenery but they do become a bit wearing. Pretty much everything about this plot is completely contrived from the random appearance of Alabama 3 (featuring Nick Reynolds, son of Great Train Robber Bruce) to the death of Sean’s previously unmentioned sister who leaves him a country house and there is constant telegraphing. There are some extremely funny moments – the party scene with Alabama 3 being one standout – and some deeply emotional scenes. However these are overshadowed by a twee script and a cast of caricatures.

Copper star Ryan in particular as pop star JJ gives a dreadfully clichéd performance and displays no acting prowess whatsoever. Equally the members of Sean’s band are all designed around musical stereotypes – however some strong performances injected with a wry knowingness makes this bearable. Maguire is suitably tortured throughout but that is pretty much all he is and you only root for him to win Amy back because JJ is so ridiculous. Anderson as Amy simpers her way through the movie and while she looks stunning she has very little depth. I also found the casting rather confusing.

Ryan is an Irish actor and yet they have him playing an American while Maguire is English and although he has acting chops and musical skills there is no reason that the role of Sean couldn’t have been filled by an equally talented Irish actor.

This is nice and pleasant with some wonderful music but the characters are underdeveloped and there are far more coincidences in the storyline than can be considered artistic licence. In trying to create multiple layers to Sean’s world all scriptwriters did was muddy and overcomplicate the story. There were several moments where I found myself sitting there stunned at the contrivances employed.

Despite all of this I found this enjoyable enough. For all it’s failings it has a lot of heart and if you strip away all the ridiculous plot twists the underlying story is a sweet, simple tale of love, loss and everything in between. It is inoffensive and has some lovely moments. However it won’t linger with you or leave you pondering what happens to the characters after the credits role which is how romantic drama should move you.