Rory O'Shea Was Here

Rory O'Shea Was Here is the story of two disabled young Irish guys and their quest for freedom. A great comedic drama that despite having some tough to watch moments, ends on a high note, and make us appreciate life a whole lot more.

Since I'm no expert in this field, I had to look up the disabilities of our two leads on the internet and I found them. Rory has muscular dystrophy, and can only move two fingers of his hand, and he can also talk. Michael has cerebral palsy and can't talk, all he does is make those sounds that we can't understand because we don't know them, but Rory does understand him.
This makes the two became friends, and after Rory's failed attempt to get independent living (because of his irresposibility), Michael, motivated by Rory's free spirited words ("Don't you want to get drunk, get arrested, get laid?" he says) and actions (Rory takes Michael to a pub where they drink, hit on girls, kiss them and almost get into a fight), decided to apply himself for independent living and succeds. Rory goes along with him as Michael needs an interpreter because of his speech problem. Soon after that the two leave the Carrigmore Home for the Disabled, and start living by themselves with the hired help of Siobhan, a young girl working in a supermarket who Rory convices to go work for them despite her not having any experience with disabled people.
The movie shows us the life of Rory and Michael, and how they grow by living by themselves and deal with their physical problems, while trying to do the things they want, like driving a car, and even falling in love.

While the performances by the two not actually disabled actors (James McAvoy plays Rory and Steven Robertson plays Michael) are perfect and the story is very touching and moving, I have a problem with it. Jeffrey Caine wrote the movie, and Damien O'Donnell directed it, and I'm not sure what they tried to do. The touching and moving parts of the movie are contrasted by some very funny sequences of the characters getting to do things they would probably never do (the already mentioned car driving, or going out to a dancing club), we also found ourselves laughing at scenes we shouldn't. It specially hit me a scene of Michael brushing his teeth. Or trying to, as his problem prevents him from grabbing the toothbrush correctly, which falls twice to the floor and we see Michael struggling to get it so he can do something so simple for us like brushing our teeth. I laughed, but then I felt bad.

My final problem is not with the movie itself but with the bad marketing the studios (Focus, Universal, WT2) are doing, particularly the movie's poster. The guy on the left is Michael, the girl on the right is Siobhan (played by Romola Garai), but the guy in the middle I have no idea who he is. He's supposed to be Rory, the title character, the main character, but that guy in the poster's only resemblence to Rory is the hair. Also, by looking at the poster you have no idea that they're disabled. It's not like this makes the movie bad or anything, it's just that you have no idea what's about, you only know that it's Irish because of the O'Shea in the name.

These problems are minor for me, because the movie is excellent, the characters are unique and perfectly portrayed, and it makes you think and appreciate life.