Review: Wild Mountain Thyme

Directed by: John Patrick Shanley

Written by: John Patrick Shanley

Starring: Emily Blunt, Jamie Dornan, Jon Hamm, Dearbhla Molloy, Christopher Walken

Rating: [1.5/5]

How one enters a viewing experience of a film tends to rely solely on the marketing and the framing intentionally crafted by the studio distributing the project. Another component lies in word-of-mouth and the big takeaways audience members who have already seen it share with others. Never has such a gulf between these two elements converged for me than with Wild Mountain Thyme, a film that confounded me to the very end, resulting in disappointment. 

Since a very young age, Rosemary (Emily Blunt) and Anthony (Jamie Dornan) have held an admiration for the other but have never acted on their feelings. Now in adulthood, Anthony’s lack of ability in sharing his feelings leaves him at a disadvantage in his availability to inherit the farm he has worked on his entire life. This leaves his father, Tony (Christopher Walken), to consider leaving the farm to Anthony’s American cousin, Adam (John Hamm). 

From its trailer, Wild Mountain Thyme gives the impression it seeks to provide a lovely little Irish romance filled with a notable cast of actors. However, all anyone who watched the film came away from watching it could talk about centered on a ridiculous third act reveal. I successfully avoided any and all spoilers of this reveal and remained eager for what could possibly excite viewers of this film to talk about it whenever this film came up in conversation. I dredged through a terrible film only to reach this reveal that the film eggs on only to receive the final disappointment it had to offer. Yes, the reveal, which I will not share here for obvious reasons, is something ridiculous but in a way that matches the ludicrous lack of quality of the rest of the production. 

This reality terribly hurts because this film contains so much that I would enjoy. We have the Irish countryside, which remains the highlight of my travels when I went to Ireland, with such a strong cast, and John Patrick Shanley, whose last directorial feature, Doubt, completely knocked me out. How could something like this go so wrong? Well, this feature proves it can squander all of its goodwill with its sheer incompetence as a story. It completely hinges on the dynamic between Anthony and Rosemary as they continue to have these feelings for the other but cannot muster the words to communicate the sentiment. Something, depending on the characterization, that could be seen as sweet but made the narrative feel like such a slog to get through. Instead, we have Jamie Dornan out there frolicking, unable to come to grips with an easy solution to the ailing problem before him. For as much as John Hamm’s character falls flat, at the very least he can lucidly point out the ridiculousness of this circumstance. 

Through many scenes and sequences, I remained with my mouth agape at what this film put before me as a form of entertainment, but little kernels of sweetness found their way through. This namely happened on one occasion, which centered on the singing the titular song at a local pub. This remains the only positive takeaway of this entire experience. “Wild Mountain Thyme” as a song is so beautiful, and I would give the film more credit were it original, but this film could not even give me that. That scene, alone, remains the only redeemable aspect of the film, seeing as everything else completely faltered in a disastrous fashion. 

Everything I knew about this film from its lack of quality and ridiculous reveal provided me with a warning to not get my hopes up about the promises of this film. I did not properly heed the advice provided to me, and I regret it, as Wild Mountain Thyme completely left me aghast. How could such a collection of talent fail so ludicrously? I almost cannot blame the cast, as at the very least they did what they were asked given the circumstances, which leaves me to direct all of the blame on John Patrick Shanley. The famed playwright wrote the original play, adapted it for the screen, and directed the feature. This disaster rests solely on his shoulders, which now makes sense why he has not made a film since 2008. Straight to director’s jail to serve his penance for what he crafted here.