This Northern Ireland-set feature veers unconvincingly from a schoolgirl’s abortion dilemma to a welter of subplots before a clumsy tonal shift
Redolent of young-adult fiction by way of school hijinks movies, with a whiff of British realism, this is much less satisfying than all that would suggest. An Irish Angel revolves around pregnant teenager Aine (Niamh James) living in Portrush in Northern Ireland who, as the film starts, has yet to tell her mum Margaret (Amanda Doherty) she’s up the duff, although her grandmother Agnes (Kathy Deehan) already suspects what’s going on.
At least her best friend, sweet-natured goof and aspiring actor Leo (Todd Bell), offers to help her pay for an abortion but Aine dithers over whether she wants to terminate or not. Dreams about the school caretaker (Shane Robinson) taking the form of Jesus are not especially helpful when it comes to working out what to do. Meanwhile, Aine and Leo are in the school production of Pulcinella, directed by drama teacher Ellie (Jaime Winstone). This gives Leo a chance to pitch some woo to Corinna (Ania Lee Lyes), who used to be close friends with Aine until something at first unspecified happened to drive a wedge between them. Naturally, the fateful event has something to do with Aine’s pregnancy.
