Themes: Opposites Attract, Workplace Romance, Foibles of Marriage
Main Cast: Pierce Brosnan, Julianne Moore, Michael Sheen, Parker Posey, Frances Fisher, Nora Dunn
Release Year: 2004
Country: US/UK/IE
Run Time: 89 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
Though equally respected in their field, divorce lawyers Audrey Woods (Julianne Moore) and Daniel Rafferty (Pierce Brosnan) are opposites inside and out of the courtroom. Audrey is meticulous and by the book, while Daniel relies on personality and luck to get by. Despite the difference in methods, neither lawyer has lost a case, and neither plan on ending their streak after being respectively hired by Serena (Parker Posey) and Thorne (Michael Sheen), a celebrity power couple gone wrong. The divorce settlement hinges on a particularly spectacular Irish castle, which both parties would like to keep for themselves. Audrey and Daniel hurry to Ireland with depositions in their eyes, but a growing mutual attraction manages to squirm out from beneath, and, after being immersed in a romantic Irish festival, the rival lawyers wake up married. Reeling, potentially in love (to Audrey in particular's dismay), and faced with the type of media explosion capable of leading to the end of their careers, the mismatched lawyers contemplate how to go about their clients' divorce hearings as man and wife. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
Vincent Marzello - Lyman Hersh; Gordon Sterne - Judge Baker; David Wilmot - Brendan; Johnny Myers - Ashton Phelps; Mina Badie - Tracey Abramovitz; Elva Crowley - Mrs. Flanagan; James McClatchie - Soloman Steinman; Brendan Morrissey - Mr. O'Callaghan; Brette Taylor - Mary Harrison; Mike Doyle - Michael Rawson
Credit
Susie Cullen - Art Director, Wolfgang Schamburg - Associate Producer, Ernst August Schneider - Associate Producer, Amanda J. Scarano - Associate Producer, Angelique Higgins - Associate Producer, Ros Hubbard - Casting, Amanda Mackey-Johnson - Casting, John Hubbard - Casting, Cathy Sandrich Gelfond - Casting, Paul Myler - Co-producer, Joan Bergin - Costume Designer, Konrad Jay - First Assistant Director, Peter Howitt - Director, Tony Lawson - Editor, Pierce Brosnan - Executive Producer, Mark Gordon - Executive Producer, Bob Yari - Executive Producer, Arthur Lappin - Executive Producer, Elie Samaha - Executive Producer, Toby Emmerich - Executive Producer, Guy Stodel - Executive Producer, Basil Iwanyk - Executive Producer, Mark Gill - Executive Producer, Oliver Hengst - Executive Producer, Ed Shearmur - Composer (Music Score), Charles J.H. Wood - Production Designer, Charles Wood - Production Designer, Adrian Biddle - Cinematographer, David T. Friendly - Producer, Julie Durk - Producer, Beau St. Clair - Producer, David Bergstein - Producer, Marc Turtletaub - Producer, Michael Seirton - Set Designer, Kieran Horgan - Sound/Sound Designer, Aline Brosh McKenna - Screen Story, Robert Harling - Screenwriter, Karey Kirkpatrick - Screenwriter, Aline Brosh McKenna - Screenwriter, Andrea Lowe - Co-Executive Producer
High-powered divorce attorneys, Audrey Woods (Moore) and Daniel Rafferty (Brosnan) , have seen love gone wrong in all its worst case scenarios—so, how bad could their chances be? At the top of their respective games, Audrey and Daniel are a classic study in opposites. She practices law strictly by the book; he always manages to win by the seat of his pants or by "cheap theatrics" as Audrey says in one scene. But soon they are pitted against each other on opposite sides of a nasty public divorce between famous clients, with the case centering upon an Irish castle that each future divorcee has their sights set on. Audrey and Daniel travel to Ireland to chase down depositions, yet the two lawyers, who have been slowly developing a mutual attraction that neither wants to acknowledge, find themselves thrown together at a romantic Irish festival. After a night of wild celebrating, they wake up the next morning as husband and wife. Audrey is shocked but Daniel seems to be all normal. They return to New York and find their marriage news has been printed in a popular tabloid the next day. This is when Audrey decides that they should stay together to save their careers. But they are fighting the divorce case with the gusto they always had in the courtroom. Meanwhile they both start developing mutual attraction while staying together at Audrey's house. While disposing of garbage one day Daniel discovers some sensitive information about Audrey's client, which he spills accidentally in the next day's court proceedings. Audrey feels betrayed and asks for a divorce there and then, which Daniel agrees to give.
Their famous clients, meanwhile, go to Ireland to their castle, but they are not legally permitted to go there. Judge Abramovitz (Nora Dunn) sends their respective counselors (Audrey and Daniel) to Ireland to inform them that the law does not permit them to be in the castle till a proper settlement, i.e. division of assets, is done.
But to everybody's surprise the famous couple is reunited and it turns out that the priest who performed Audrey and Daniel's marriage was just a servant at the castle and not a priest, and the marriages he performed were just a part of the festival's celebration. They were anything but real.
Audrey and Daniel are shocked and Daniel returns to New York but Audrey follows him as she realizes that she has fallen in love with him. They have a court marriage at the end which is carried out by Judge Abramovitz.
