"Ever wanted to be the imaginary friend of an idiot boy in the west of Ireland? Me neither." So began Chris O'Dowd's autobiographical tale of Martin Paul Kenny Dalglish Moone, a 12-year-old boy growing up in the small town of Boyle, Co Roscommon.
Set in the grey year of 1989, Dynasty is still on the telly, the clothes are awful, and Martin is caught between the twin evils of school and his family. At school, he is bullied by the magnificently bad Bonner brothers, bomber-jacketed thugs who dish out dead legs, Chinese burns and wedgies with gusto. At home his unlovely adolescent sisters, Sinead, Fidelma and Trisha, delight in making his life hell while his parents (Deidre O'Kane and Peter McDonald) are not quite of the Peter and Lois Griffin standard but they are maybe a bit distant.
But Martin, a nice kid if a bit dim, has a secret weapon - an imaginary friend called Sean played by O'Dowd who is clearly the older version of young Martin. Older Martin appears at moments of mini-crises to dispense gormless advice and O'Dowd is great in the role as a wonky bloke with childlike enthusiasm and a big heart.
Chris O'Dowd and David Rawle have great chemistry in Moone Boy
David Rawle is also terrific as Martin. His lack of dress sense is possibly inspired by the kid in the film adaptation of About a Boy and there is possibly a touch of that odd-looking child from The Middle too. Martin gets some of the best lines: "You smell better than crisps." He says at one point and his description of soup as "the thinking man's tea." is a keeper.
Do you remember the point when Homer became more interesting and funnier than Bart in The Simpsons? Well, Moone Boy could go the same way because Peter McDonald as long-suffering Mr Moone is great. As is Simon Delaney as Gerry Bonner, the very, very nice father of the nasty Bonner kids. "You probably came over here expecting me to be some horrible angry brute who bullies his kids who in turn bully other kids," says Mr Bonner when Martin's dad calls to the Bonner house looking for justice. "I love my sons, of course, but they're awful."
There was a nice reference to Deliverance in last night's opening episode (maybe the dualling banjos scene was one O'Dowd referred to a lot when he was growing up) but wasn't that scene of Martin caring for a dead chaffinch straight out of Dumb and Dumber?
This was enjoyable gentle comedy, shot through with just the right amount of small town surrealism. Moone Boy is a bit of a hoot. In fact, you can see O'Dowd revisiting young Martin a la Adrian Mole as he battles through adolescence and adulthood.
Alan Corr
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