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In America is a wistful drama that marks a change of tone and pace for writer-director Jim Sheridan, the man behind heavyweight hitters My Left Foot and In The Name Of The Father.

"AN UNEXPECTED CROWD-PLEASER"

This unexpected crowd-pleaser follows Irishman Johnny (Paddy Considine) as he crosses the Canadian border into America on a tourist visa. With wife Sarah (Samantha Morton) and daughters Christy and Ariel (Sarah and Emma Bolger) in tow, he heads for New York City where he plans to set up home and make it as an actor.

Hanging over the family is the unspoken tragedy that prompted them to up sticks and move to the land of the free: the death of their youngest son. While Johnny drives a New York taxicab and Sarah tends house in the dilapidated apartment block (where they live among junkies and transvestites), the kids deal with the changes in their life by befriending the imposing African artist Mateo (Djimon Hounsou) who lives downstairs.

Part life-affirming comedy, part grief-stricken tale of bereavement, In America impresses mainly because of the combined talent of Samantha Morton and Paddy Considine. They are surely two of the finest, and most underrated, actors of their generation.

Where the film struggles, though, is in its mystical, magical realist moments. Narrated by Christy, who claims to have been given three wishes by her dead brother, and focusing on a rather trite relationship between the family and Mateo, In America slowly leans towards the wrong side of sugary.

"FLAWED BUT WONDERFUL"

The racial dynamic is façile - offering yet another noble savage chest-bearing role for the excellent Djimon Hounsou - and the closing mysticism is risible. But somehow that's not quite enough to stop you being swept into the film's warm afterglow. It's flawed but still wonderful.

In America is released in UK cinemas on Friday 31st October 2003.