Don't Talk to Irene, written and directed by Pat Mills 9 out of 10

Don't Talk to Irene, written and directed by Pat Mills
9 out of 10


This independent motion picture has the merit of being amusing, entertaining and educational.

Irene becomes if not the ultimate role model, a heroine and a Wonder Woman of sorts anyway.
She is an overweight teenager that has a passion for cheerleading.

Alas, this occupation seems to be reserved for slim, perhaps anorexic girls.
Even worse, at her school, the protagonist has to confront some vicious colleagues.

One of the cheerleaders is Sarah and she says that Irene could certainly join their team, but only after passing some tests.
One of them is to lick the floor!

Given that the heroine has had a worm as a good pet - forced though by her mother to flush it down the toilet - we can see that she has the stamina and grit to cope with it...
Up to the point where she rushes to the desk of an alcoholic teacher, who keeps his drink in class and the protagonist takes a good swallow.

The teacher catches her and she is brought in front of the principal, with Sarah and Tesh, the latter a boy involved in this evil farce.
They are punished and sent to work for three weeks in a retirement home.

It all seems depressing, but Irene is a strong character and has a creative mind.
Furthermore, Charles arrives on the premises and if initially he is very unhappy with the new home, he would become essential in a daring project.

It helps that two of the elderly women already retired in the home find him very attractive and therefore would accept his propositions, even when they involve great risk.
Irene wants to have a cheerleading team with the octogenarians as members.

It is as a brave a concoction as anything else one might conceive.

Having said that, it must be stated that first, dancing is proved to be the Most Beneficial physical activity, with improvements in intelligence that have been demonstrated.

There are positive psychology studies that also show that the elderly who are engaged in an activity, even those who have just the responsibility to water some plants, would live much longer than those who have nothing to do.

The group of elders starts preparing and Irene is enlisting them for a contest, on a television program.
When the supervisor - manager of the retirement home disagrees with the project, they decide to steal the bus, like in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

Sarah does not want her foe to have any success, informs Irene's mother about the punishment she was unaware of and the cheerleader is grounded.

Charles comes to the house with the bus full of enthusiastic cheerleaders and instructs the leader of the group to jump from the window...

I will catch you
You will be killed...indeed, Irene is heavy...

There are some good lessons to be learn from this meditation on what is really important:

Good looks or a beautiful spirit, a generous attitude and perseverance?

It is also worth mentioning that someone should tell the role model that she should lose weight.
If not for some elusive, maybe old fashioned image of the ideal beauty, then for her health.

In the long term, her life expectancy would be diminished, she could have multiple problems with her physical well being.

Nevertheless, a Wonder Girl as Irene would find the best solution!