Evelyn

The most celebrated child custody battle in Irish history is the subject of this moving but uninspired feel-good drama in which Pierce Brosnan stretches his anti-Bond acting chops as a struggling laborer desperately fighting church and state to get his three button-cute kids out of foster care. When the wife of Brosnan's real-life character Desmond Doyle disappears with another man in 1953, the enforcers of family law ("a cozy conspiracy between the Catholic church and the Irish state") decide a single father without steady work makes for an unfit parent, and his beloved young children are dragged off to strict orphanage schools run by tyrannical nuns. The transparently fictionalized script is the stuff of Screenwriting 101, and Brosnan has to drive his character around the block a few times before getting a bead on Doyle, who looks for work, resolves to stay sober and takes on the Goliath system. Still, the good intentions of director Bruce Beresford (Double Jeopardy, Driving Miss Daisy) and the warm sense of Doyle's determination eventually do triumph over the--at times--simplistic tearjerker aspects of the film, making this a strong optional purchase. (R. Blackwelder)[Blu-ray/DVD Review—Mar. 7, 2017—Olive, 95 min., PG, DVD: $24.95, Blu-ray: $29.95—Making its latest appearance on DVD and debut on Blu-ray, 2002's Evelyn features a fine transfer and DTS 5.1 audio on the Blu-ray release. Extras include two audio commentaries (one by director Bruce Beresford; the other by star Pierce Brosnan and producer Beau St. Clair), a behind-the-scenes featurette (21 min.), the “Story Behind the Story” segment (19 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: a fine Blu-ray debut for this uneven drama.]