EXTRA ORDINARY (2019)

With special guest Wendy MacLeod

Intro, Math Club, Debate Society, Hot for Teacher (spoiler-free): 00:00-25:32
Honor Roll and Detention (spoiler-heavy): 25:33-56:00
Superlatives (spoiler-heavier): 56:01-1:14:13

Directors Mike Ahearn & Enda Loughman
Screenplay Mike Ahearn & Enda Loughman and Maeve Higgins & Demian Fox
Featuring Jamie Beamish, Terri Chandler, Emma Coleman, Risteard Cooper, Will Forte, Maeve Higgins, Claudia O’Doherty, Barry Ward

Released March 6, 2020 (US)
Box Office $223,898 (Worldwide)

SPOILER-FREE SYNOPSIS

Driving instructor Rose Dooley lives alone in rural Ireland, but in fact she’s hardly ever alone.  The local residents call Rose any time they have a, shall we say, ghost problem. Which happens more often than you’d think. You see, Rose’s father, the late ghost hunter Vincent Dooley, has imbued Rose with certain ‘talents’ to divine and chat up ghosts that are giving people a hard time. That’s when she’s approached by one Martin Martin, a woodworker whose late wife has been making his life a living hell for the past several years, constantly berating him and his choices from beyond the grave. Martin’s daughter Sarah is growing up and has ideas of her own.  At the same time, determined to sell his soul for a revived career, washed up American pop star Christian and his wife Claudia have been picking out virgins to sacrifice, and soon set their sights on Martin's daughter, Sarah. It’s up to Rose and Martin to foil the Winters’ nefarious schemes, and to make sure it's "curtains for Christian."

SPOILER-FREE GUEST BIO

Wendy MacLeod’s play The House of Yes became an award-winning Miramax film starring Parker Posey, and was produced by many theaters including The Magic Theater, Soho Rep, The Washington Shakespeare Company, The Maxim Gorki Theater in Berlin, and The Gate Theater in London. Her other works for the stage include Sin and Schoolgirl Figure, both of which premiered at The Goodman, Juvenilia and The Water Children, both of which premiered at Playwrights Horizons, and Things Being What They Are, which premiered at Seattle Repertory Theatre, had an extended run at Steppenwolf in Chicago, and was produced by The Road Theatre in LA. She was the first writer selected for The Writer’s Room residency at the Arden Theater in Philadelphia, where she wrote Women in Jeopardy! which was selected for The Kilroys' List and premiered at GEVA. The Ballad of Bonnie Prince Chucky was commissioned by and produced at ACT's Young Conservatory in San Francisco. Her prose has appeared in The New York Times, McSweeney's, Salon, POETRY magazine, and on NPR's All Things Considered. A graduate of the Yale School of Drama, she is the James E. Michael Playwright-in-Residence at Kenyon College. Her plays are available through Dramatists Play Service and at Playscripts.com.

EPISODE NOTE

Music from Extra Ordinary: “A Woman’s Heart” by Eleanor McAvoy, performed by McAvoy and Mary Black.

Why did Professor Louryk choose this film? Find out in our Blog.

TRAILER

SUPERLATIVES

The Gaspar Noe Award for Most Disturbing Scene
Wendy: Christian Winter slits Claudia’s throat because of the Chinese food order
Eric: [Abstaining]
Bradford: Sarah Martin is expelled from the hell mouth, covered in ectoplasm

The Ellen Ripley Award for Character Who Most Deserves to Live
Wendy: Bonnie Martin
Eric: Rose Dooley
Bradford: Vincent Dooley

The Michael Myers Award for Character Who Most Deserves to Die
Wendy: Claudia Winter
Eric: Claudia Winter
Bradford: Claudia Winter

The Ken Russell Award for Most Baroque Screen Moment
Wendy: “When a pentagram is on fire, I know I’m in Ken Russell land”
Eric: End sequence as Asteroth is summoned; Martin and Rose, having sex, are pulled towards the pit of doom; and Sailor is having her baby
Bradford: Scream montage during the Asteroth summoning ceremony, including shot of Claudia, who is dead

The Brad Dourif Award for Character Who Could (or Should) Have Been Played by Brad Dourif
Wendy: The “cosmic woman” in Christian Winter’s video
Eric: Vincent Dooley
Bradford: Vincent Dooley

FINAL LETTER GRADE

Wendy: B+
Eric: B-
Bradford: A