THE CLOSER YOU GET

It's been years since wedding bells have rung in this shrinking village on Ireland's craggy Donegal coast. Divorces and funerals are par for the course, but with so few eligible and interested women left, there seem to be no romances on the horizon. The single men around here stay single unless they simply give up and leave the small windswept community. So Kieran O'Donnagh (Ian Hart), a slightly bloated bachelor, and his lovelorn mates hatch a plan to bring true love into their midst at last. When their scheme to entice American beauties to the village goes awry, the result is an unexpected round of romances with the least likely of women - the one's who've been right in front of them all along. As it turns out, the women in the village hold a few surprises of their own. The harder the men attempt to lure wives from across the sea, the more the local ladies see the stuff their lads are made of. Caught up in a mysterious dating competition ignited by one tiny magazine ad, Donegal's lasses soon find themselves doing the luring. As the town's unmarried - and precariously married - men prepare for the arrival of their potential American mates, a new spark of seduction is in the air. The slovenly Kieran gets a shocking make-over and ups his daily sit-ups to seven. His painfully innocent friend Ollie seeks a crash course in the birds and the bees. Kieran's worldly brother Ian finds old fantasies re-emerging. Burly bartender Pat fills his pub with fragrant flowers. The teenaged Sean puts his travel dreams on hold to practice sexy poses and even good Father Mallone gets inspired. With charm and uncanny surprises, THE CLOSER YOU GET stars Ian Hart, Sean McGinley, Niamh Cusack, Ruth McCabe, Ewan Stewart, Sean McDonagh, Cathleen Bradley and Pat Shortt. Directed by Aileen Ritchie and produced by Uberto Pasolini, the screenplay is by William Ivory.