This Year’s Alternative Superbowl: Quirky British/Irish Comedies

I hear tell some sports teams are doing something considered important today. Once again, we’re ignoring that, but still gathering with friends to eat and watch T.V.

Unlike past years, when we held Austen Fest, (see An Alternative to the Superbowl—Austen Fest and Austen Fest 2018) we’re doing Quirky British Comedies. And by “British,” we mean Irish as well, even though one of our “Irish” selections was actually filmed on the Isle of Man.

Waking Ned Devine, (paid link) an Irish story actually filmed on the Isle of Man (Image: Amazon.com).

We have so many great movies to choose from in this arguably specific collection of movies we’ve seen and enjoyed over the years. Sadly, we found ourselves unprepared for the “celebration,” perhaps distracted from the upcoming Superbowl event by other developments in the news. We didn’t curate our Netflix queue to bring a few of our favorites (see Goodbye, Netflix, See You in September), like The Matchmaker, (paid link) but we’ll get by, thanks to our own collection and the local library.

We’ll likely watch Waking Ned Devine (paid link) (this was the one filmed in the Isle of Man) and Saving Grace, (paid link) (from whence came the series Doc Martin (paid link)!) with Calendar Girls (paid link) and The Full Monty (paid link) as a “safety”. If we really get carried away, there are old favorites Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (paid link) and Mrs. Henderson Presents (paid link), but we may also play games in addition to watching movies. And, of course, we’ll eat! Probably homemade sushi.

The Matchmaker (paid link), loved, but less available (Image: Amazon.com).

Of course, since today is Groundhog Day as well (see Groundhog Day, Alaska Style), I personally like to watch the eponymous movie, Groundhog Day, but I’ll try to squeeze that in later. It’s not a favorite of Michelle or Aly’s, and the irony of multiple viewings of a movie about a day that repeats over and over again is not lost . . . .

Eventually, I suppose we’ll inevitably learn who was in the Superbowl, and who won. But, we won’t feel overly concerned about the outcome. I would like to watch the ads, though.