Don't Talk to Irene

Writer-director Pat Mills balances the sugary sentimentality of the story with the right amount of sour in his smart and snappy dialogue.

Even when the film's eccentricities feel too choreographed, it manages to deliver its preordained uplift with good-humored charm.

Watching Mills' film, one wishes it were as weird and wonderful as Irene herself. It's almost as if the writer/director doesn't realize how rare his own creation is.

An above-average entry in the loveable-misfits comic sub-genre, Don't Talk to Irene is the kind of low-budget gem that can get lost in the glare of the Toronto International Film Festival.