Waking Ned Devine

Plot

When a lottery winner dies of shock, his fellow townsfolk attempt to claim the money.

Release Year: 1998

Rating: 7.2/10 (14,671 voted)

Critic's Score: 71/100

Director:
Kirk Jones

Stars: Ian Bannen, David Kelly, Fionnula Flanagan

Storyline
When word reaches two elderly best friends that someone in their tiny Irish village has won the national lottery, they go to great lengths to find the winner so they can share the wealth. When they discover the "lucky" winner, Ned Devine, they find he has died of shock upon discovering his win. Not wanting the money to go to waste, the village enters a pact to pretend Ned is still alive by having another man pose as him, and then to divide the money between them.

Cast:

Ian Bannen
–

Jackie O'Shea

David Kelly
–

Michael O'Sullivan

Fionnula Flanagan
–

Annie O'Shea

Susan Lynch
–

Maggie O'Toole

James Nesbitt
–

Pig Finn

Paul Vaughan
–

Narrator

(voice)

Adrian Robinson
–

Lotto Observer

Maura O'Malley
–

Mrs. Kennedy

Robert Hickey
–

Maurice O'Toole

Paddy Ward
–

Brendy O'Toole

James Ryland
–

Dennis Fitzgerald

Fintan McKeown
–

Pat Mulligan

Eileen Dromey
–

Lizzy Quinn

Kitty Fitzgerald
–

Kitty

Dermot Kerrigan
–

Father Patrick

Taglines:
How far would you go to win a fortune!

Details

Official Website:
FOX Mexico |
Fox Searchlight |

Release Date: 20 November 1998

Filming Locations: Cregneash, Isle of Man

Box Office Details

Budget: $3,000,000

(estimated)

Opening Weekend: $148,971
(USA)
(22 November 1998)
(9 Screens)

Gross: $43,515,982
(Worldwide)
(8 December 2006)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min
 |
Argentina: 92 min

Did You Know?

Trivia:

Despite being set in Ireland the film was shot in the Isle of Man.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes:
When Lizzy is calling the National Lottery from the phone booth, it is clearly visible that the entry in the yellow pages is in fact a cut-out piece of paper glued onto a different entry.

Quotes:

Michael O'Sullivan:
He survived all those storms to be washed away by a few plastic lottery balls.

User Review

Refreshing

Rating: 8/10

An afternoon tea on a warm summer day is still seen by some people as an
enjoyable way to rid oneself of the tensions of the day and to allow oneself
to slow down and feel at ease. Waking Ned is a sort of afternoon tea for
cinemagoers. Nothing really bad happens. There are no really tense moments,
or serious threats to life or liberty, for the mostly likeable but roguish
characters. That's what makes the film so appealing!!

There are maybe two characters that quickly lose the audiences sympathy and
both get their comeuppance in different ways. One, a truly "nasty piece of
work", is reminiscent of the wicked witch from The Wizard of Oz ( the
parallel should be readily evident to the viewer). This character meets her
demise in the most hilarious manner possible for a likeable film such as
this.

On the whole Waking Ned is a refreshing film that is "Feel Good" all the way
through without laying on thick layers of mush. No need for the hankies
folks but there's plenty of room to toast the villagers' of Tully
Moor!!