Critic Reviews

Buddy movies are a Hollywood staple, but Rory O'Shea Was Here puts a new and profoundly affecting spin on the tired genre.

Superbly acted.

Sweet and deeply moving.

Funny and moving, and more entertaining than some of the movies you are considering this weekend.

It addresses the essential human need for dignity, for freedom, for mastery over one's life.

O'Donnell's directing is assured and glossy as befits a former maker of television commercials, and Jeffrey Caine's exuberant script sidesteps cliché -- just.

Better than the usual three-stage journey of courage, heartbreak and redemption. In this case, the triumph of the human spirit comes with a small bitter chaser.

The kind of inspirational movie that actually earns its crowd-rousing response as opposed to merely pushing the same old, emotion-coaxing buttons.

If there's such a thing as freedom for everyone, Rory's determined to give the prospect its most grueling road test.

Constrained by formula but executed with heart and humor.