Colm Meaney has said he was initially wary of starring in new comedy The Problem With People because he was afraid that the script might be full of Irish cliches.
The feelgood comedy stars Dublin-born Meaney and American comedian and actor Paul Reiser as estranged cousins who meet each other for the first time, become friends but then fall out over a row about inheritance and land in an Irish village.
Wild Mountain Thyme/Darby O'Gill alarm bells rang in Meaney’s head when he first got the script as he was well aware of how defensive Irish audiences can be when their homeland is portrayed on screen.
"I read it all in one go, the characters were interesting, funny, complex but most importantly, it was Ireland today and now. It wasn’t Paddywhackery."
Review: The Problem With People is peak shamrockery
Meaney, whose previous movies include The Van, The Snapper and Intermission as well as his much-loved role as O’Brien in Star Trek: The Next Generation, plays Ciaran, a grumpy undertaker in a small Irish town.
When his father Fergal (Des Keogh) makes a deathbed wish to resolve a century-old family feud involving the American side of the family, Ciaran cold calls his long-lost cousin, hot shot property developer Barry (Reiser) in New York, and invites him over to Ireland.
Hi-jinks, romantic misunderstandings, petty squabbling and even an old-fashioned land war that divides the village ensue in the culture clash comedy shot mostly around Blessington in Wicklow.
Reiser has previously appeared in Aliens, the Beverly Hills Cop franchise, Stranger Things and long-running sitcom Mad About You with Helen Hunt. He co-produced and co-wrote the script for The Problem With People and he too was well aware of making the movie too Orish.
"Before we sent out the script, I had an Irish friend glance over it and I asked him to tell me if we had gotten anything wrong and there were a couple of little sentence structures, things I wouldn’t have known," Reiser said.
"The real stamp of approval came when Colm said he liked it so I guess we passed the test but there were a couple of little things on the set where the actors would tweak things and I’d say, `do it that way.’ I wanted it to be as authentic as possible and I wasn’t precious about changing things."
Meaney (71) and Reiser (68) are sitting in the Dublin’s Westbury Hotel, the very first place they ever met and they’re now at the finishing each other sentences stage of their friendship.
Great night at Dublin screening of The Problem With People with my partners in crime: Colm Meaney, producer Max Brady and director Chris Cottam. pic.twitter.com/jkG5gQOwuT
— Paul Reiser (@PaulReiser) November 4, 2024
"We didn’t really know each other," says Meaney. "We’d only texted before that; we’d been texting for over three years while the financing for the film got together and all that."
They bonded over a few pints. "And the funny thing is we didn’t really talk about the movie or the script for a second," says Reiser. "We were talking politics and family and books . . ."
The Problem With People largely revolves around how Barry and Ciaran fall out and how their communication breakdown leaves the sleepy village divided but Reiser denies any suggestion that he was making a point about American politics and Donald Trump.
"The story is about two guys but it is really about how they resolve conflict," he says. "It starts with Des Keogh, Ciaran’s father, watching the news, seeing conflict after conflict, and saying what s wrong with people? Why can’t we get along? So, the film is trying to tackle a big subject in a small accessible way.
The Problem With People is in cinemas this Friday, 8 November
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