The Young Offenders | |
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Directed by | Peter Foott |
Written by | Peter Foott |
Produced by |
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Starring | |
Cinematography | Patrick Jordan |
Edited by | Colin Campbell |
Production companies |
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Distributed by | Wildcard Distribution |
Release dates |
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Running time | 85 minutes |
Country | Ireland |
Language | English |
Budget | €50,000 ($62,509) [1] |
Box office | €735,532 ($919,415) [2] |
The Young Offenders is a 2016 Irish comedy film written, directed, and co-produced by Peter Foott. [3] [4] [5] [6] It stars Alex Murphy, Chris Walley, Dominic MacHale, Hilary Rose, Shane Casey, Pascal Scott, and P. J. Gallagher.
A television series sequel, airing for four seasons on RTÉ and BBC Three from February 2018, saw much of the film cast reprise their roles.
Best friends Conor and Jock are two teenagers from Cork who dress the same, act the same, and even have the same weak facial hair. Jock is a notorious bike thief who plays a daily game of cat-and-mouse with the bike-theft-obsessed police sergeant Healy, and lives with his drunken, abusive dad. Conor is the son of a single mum, Mairéad, who works in a fish shop at the English Market and with whom he has a strained relationship. When a narcotic trafficking boat capsizes off the southwest coast of County Cork, leading to the seizure of 61 bales of cocaine, each worth €7 million, word gets out that there is a bale missing.
Conor and Jock steal two bicycles and go on a road trip, hoping to find the missing cocaine, which they can sell and therefore escape their troubled home lives. Unfortunately for them, Healy had hid a GPS tracker in the bike that Jock stole for himself as a trap and is in hot pursuit. By chance, the boys find the bale of coke in a ruined castle that Conor was defecating in, in the possession of a disabled narcotics dealer named Ray. They steal it while he is asleep but he wakes up and unsuccessfully tries to retake it.
Using Conor's sweater which he left with Ray to keep him warm while he slept, and had Conor's name on it, Ray gives chase to the pair. In the midst of celebrating their victory, Conor unknowingly snags the bag on barbed wire and rips it, so the coke slowly leaks out on the journey home until there is none left by the time they get back. The two fall out and Jock gets intoxicated and passes out, while Conor comes home and eventually patches things up with his mum. Jock's father comes home and violently assaults him until Healy comes to Jock's home intending to arrest him, subsequently realizing the extent of Jock's life at home.
However, Jock sneaks out upon being informed that Ray is searching for them by a neighbourhood friend. Ray later tracks them down, steals a nail gun from a hardware shop, and angrily invades Conor's house as Jock gets to his house to tell him about Ray, and Healy simultaneously gets there searching for Conor. Ray knocks out Healy and threatens Conor, Jock and Mairéad, not believing that the boys are so stupid as to lose €7 million worth of cocaine. Strangely enough, a local thug named Billy Murphy whom the pair put in prison on narcotics charges by tricking Healy into thinking he stole a bike enters, looking for revenge against the boys.
In a rare show of intellelect, Conor tricks Ray into thinking Billy stole the coke and a struggle ensues where Mairéad ends up knocking out both Ray and Billy, and both are arrested. Conor and Jock spin the tale to paint Healy as a hero to the media, to his chagrin, while Jock is put into foster care with Conor and his mother due to his abusive upbringing.
The film is based on the seizure of 1.5 tonnes of cocaine off the Irish coast near Mizen Head in 2007. [4] The film was shot in Cork and along the Wild Atlantic Way. [7]
The Young Offenders premiered at the Galway Film Fleadh on 8 July 2016, and won Best Irish Feature Film at the festival. It became the fastest Irish film to break the €1 million mark at the Irish box office in 2016. [8] Carnaby Sales and Distribution has acquired the international sales rights to the film, while a deal with Vertigo Releasing would see the film released in the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. [9]
The film had its premiere for the United States at Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas, on 23 September 2016, where it won a Special Mention for Best Comedy Debut. [10] It was released in the United Kingdom on 13 January 2017. [11]
The Irish Examiner scored the film 4/5, saying "huge potential for that rare breakout hit which also attains a cultish following with endlessly quotable one liners". [12] The Irish Times named it as one of the highlights of the Galway Film Fleadh, saying that Walley and Murphy are "brilliant as track suited layabouts who, though lazy, impulsive and ignorant, remain endlessly lovable throughout". [13] After its premiere in the United States, The Austin Chronicle called the film "a charming return for Irish comedy". [14] On Rotten Tomatoes the film has a 100% approval rating based on 22 reviews. [15]
Year | Award | Category | Result |
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2016 | Los Angeles Comedy Festival | Best Feature Film, Best Feature Screenplay, Best Feature Direction | Won |
2016 | Irish Film Festival London | The Súil Eile Award, The Ros Hubbard Award for Acting | Won |
2016 | Fantastic Fest | Special Mention for Best Comedy Debut | Won |
2016 | Galway Film Fleadh | Best Irish Feature Film | Won |
2016 | Dublin Film Critics Awards | Best Irish Film[ citation needed ] | Nominated |
2017 | Irish Film and Television Awards | Best Script - Film [16] | Won |
2017 | Irish Film and Television Awards | Best Film [16] | Nominated |
2017 | Irish Film and Television Awards | Best Actor in a Lead Role - Alex Murphy [16] | Nominated |
2017 | Irish Film and Television Awards | Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Chris Walley [16] | Nominated |
2017 | Irish Film and Television Awards | Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Hilary Rose [16] | Nominated |
2017 | Irish Film and Television Awards | Best Director- Film - Peter Foott [16] | Nominated |
2017 | Irish Film and Television Awards | Rising Star Award - Peter Foott [16] | Nominated |
In May 2017, a six episode television series was announced. [17] The series began to air in February 2018, [18] with the BBC commissioning a second season which aired in late 2019. [19] [20] A third season aired in 2020. [21]
Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh is an Irish fiddler and the lead vocalist for the Irish folk music band Altan, which she co-founded with her husband Frankie Kennedy in 1987. Ní Mhaonaigh is recognised as a leading exponent in the Donegal fiddle tradition, and she is often considered one of the foremost singers in the Irish language, her native tongue. She was part of the Irish supergroup T with the Maggies who performed in January 2009 at Temple Bar TradFest in Dublin their first ever two concerts under that name and who released in October 2010 their debut album. After nearly 22 years with Altan, on 28 December 2008 Ní Mhaonaigh premiered in Gweedore her debut solo album Imeall which was later released worldwide in February 2009. After 29 years with Altan, in October 2016 Ní Mhaonaigh released her alternate band Na Mooneys' debut album Na Mooneys.
Ballinlough is a mainly residential townland and suburb on the southside of Cork city, in Ireland. It is located between Ballintemple and the larger suburbs of Douglas and Blackrock.
John Crowley is an Irish film and theatre director. He is best known for the films Brooklyn (2015) and his debut feature, Intermission (2003), for which he won an Irish Film and Television Award for Best Director. He is a brother of the designer Bob Crowley.
Robert Sheehan is an Irish actor. He is best known for television roles such as Nathan Young in Misfits, Darren Treacy in Love/Hate, and Klaus Hargreeves in The Umbrella Academy, as well as film roles such as Tom Natsworthy in Mortal Engines and Simon Lewis in The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones.
The English Market is a municipal food market in the center of Cork city, Ireland. It stretches from Princes Street to the Grand Parade, and combines Princes Street Market and Grand Parade Market. The market is regarded for both its mid-19th century architecture and locally produced artisan food.
Peter Foott is an Irish director, producer and screenwriter known for his work on The Young Offenders.
Kelly Thornton is an Irish actress who began her career as a child actress. She is best known for her roles as Corrina Mallon in the 2015 RTÉ drama Clean Break and Emma in the film Life's a Breeze (2013), which earned her an IFTA nomination for best actress.
The 14th IFTA Film & Drama Awards took place at the Mansion House on 8 April 2017 in Dublin, honouring Irish film and television drama released in 2016. Deirdre O'Kane hosted the film awards ceremony.
Alex Murphy is an Irish actor. He is best known for his role as Conor MacSweeney in the 2016, comedy film The Young Offenders, for which he received an IFTA nomination for best actor in a lead film role.
Chris Walley is an Irish actor. He is best known for his role as Jock O'Keeffe in the comedy film The Young Offenders (2016), for which he won an IFTA Award, and its subsequent RTÉ and BBC Three series. He won a Laurence Olivier Award for his performance in The Lieutenant of Inishmore revival on the West End.
The Young Offenders is an Irish coming-of-age television sitcom, developed by Peter Foott, for RTÉ and BBC Three. Based on the IFTA-winning 2016 film of the same name, the first series began broadcasting on 1 February 2018, to generally favourable reviews. The series follows the lives of Conor MacSweeney and Jock O'Keeffe, lovable rogues from Cork.
Michael Inside is a 2017 Irish prison film, written, directed and co-produced by Frank Berry. It was nominated for four Irish Film & Television Awards and won the Best Film prize.
Dominic MacHale is an Irish actor. He is best known for his role as Sergeant Healy in the 2016 comedy film The Young Offenders. He went on to reprise his role in the 2018 television series of the same name, produced by the BBC. He started acting while working towards his BSc in Microbiology in University College Cork, which he gained in 2010. The Young Offenders was his first film role. Until then he had been mainly a theatre actor. His father is the academic Des MacHale.
Demi Isaac Oviawe is an Irish actress. She is best known for her role as Linda Walsh in the RTÉ and BBC comedy The Young Offenders (2018–2020).
Danielle Galligan is an Irish actress, theatre maker, and poet. On television, she is known for her roles in the Netflix series Shadow and Bone (2021–2023) and the RTÉ series Obituary (2023). Her films include Lakelands (2022).
Hilary Rose is an Irish actress and writer. She is best known for her portrayal of Mairéad MacSweeney in The Young Offenders franchise, including the 2016 feature film and its subsequent television series, which commenced in 2018.
Shane Casey is an Irish actor and playwright. He is best known for playing the role of Billy Murphy in The Young Offenders (film) and The Young Offenders (TV).
Julie Ryan is an Irish film and TV producer from Cork, Ireland, known for her work on The Young Offenders (2016), I Never Cry (2020), and Finding You (2020).