This muffled Irish film is done in such a dim, murky way, I checked to see if I had left my sunglasses on by mistake. In my opinion, much of the humor got by me simply because I needed captions. The plot doesn't actually take shape until the last third of the movie, then it is exciting and we come away understanding (most of) the story.

That being said, I'm happy to reiterate my admiration for Colin Farrell ("In Bruges" and "Crazy Heart") while at the same time wishing he could find a project in which he cuts his hair, takes a shower and has a shave. I'm so tired of assuming he doesn't smell very good...

Farrell's character is a divorced, (recovering) alcoholic fisherman with a daughter who suffers from kidney failure and requires dialysis on a regular basis. The daughter, played by Allison Barry in her first film, is a precocious little gal who whips around their tiny village in her motorized wheelchair. When she learns that her father pulled a woman out of the sea in his fishing net and resuscitated her, she heads for the library and looks up tales of the sea that might prove there is a little magic coming their way. She feels they are overdue.

The local priest, played by Stephen Rea ("The Heavy"), must be forgiven if he is a bit skeptical of that fishy story. He asks our fisherman where "Ondine" (for lack of a better name) sleeps, and I don't think he believes what he's told.

The production feels authentic (except for Farrell's delicate hands pulling on that tow line), and the acting feels genuine. The story offers a nice romance, some excitement, and we can't fault the father/daughter relationship.