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AN EVERLASTING PIECE

What You Need To Know:

AN EVERLASTING PIECE takes a comic attitude to the conflict in Northern Ireland between Protestants and Catholics. A young Roman Catholic, Colm, gets a job as a barber in an insane asylum in Northern Ireland. Colm convinces George, the young Protestant barber in the asylum, to join together to sell hairpieces. Colm and George must come up with some creative sales techniques to beat out their competition. A series of comic events also brings them into conflict with the IRA and the British Army.

AN EVERLASTING PIECE is a cute, funny story with whimsical characters. Regrettably, however, it’s laced with strong foul language, including many strong profanities misusing the name of God. There are also a couple gratuitous sexual comments, some gross images of cow feces and content disparaging preachers & people of faith. Finally, although the movie includes some Christian values and mild images of some faithful people, it has a romantic worldview. Because of its objectionable content and worldview, MOVIEGUIDE® cannot give a positive acceptability rating to AN EVERLASTING PIECE. Indeed, its worldview and foul language will turn off many adults, especially those with a strong religious faith based on the Bible

Content:

(RoRo, C, AbAb, LLL, V, S, N, A, DD, M) Romantic worldview with some Christian elements, but also laced with many profanities & a crazy man misrepresents street preachers & people of faith in a mocking way; excessive foul language, including at least 102 mostly strong obscenities, 28 mostly strong profanities & some sexual comments, plus images of cow feces; threats of violence from IRA gunmen, images of soldiers & gunmen, & some slapstick situations, including a man who’s been put in an insane asylum for allegedly scalping people; no actual sex scenes but references made to unmarried sexual relationship; upper & rear male nudity; alcohol use; smoking & marijuana use; and, miscellaneous immorality such as lying, threats, intimidation, & references to ethnic & religious conflict done as a comical comment on the foibles of men.

More Detail:

AN EVERLASTING PIECE takes a comic attitude to the ethnic and political conflict in Northern Ireland between Protestants and Roman Catholics. It does so by focusing on two young barbers, one a Protestant and one a Catholic, who decide to sell hairpieces. Although it is directed by American Barry Levinson (RAIN MAN, WAG THE DOG and GOOD MORNING, VIETNAM), a young Irish actor, Barry McEvoy, wrote the screenplay, based on the stories his father told him about his own career as a barber and a hairpiece salesman. McEvoy also stars in the movie, which includes a fine Irish folk score by Hans Zimmer (THE PRINCE OF EGYPT). Zimmer also heads the music department of DreamWorks, the studio distributing this movie.

In the story, McEvoy plays Colm, a young Roman Catholic who gets a job as a barber in an insane asylum in Northern Ireland. Colm convinces George, the young Protestant barber in the asylum, to join together to sell hairpieces in Belfast and the surrounding area. Colm and George try to avoid the usual Catholic-Protestant ethnic and political battles by selling hairpieces to both groups. They get a list of possible clients from one of the inmates in the asylum, who went crazy and starting scalping people when he sold toupees. When another hairpiece company, Toupee or Not Toupee, joins the competition to corner the market, Colm and George, with help from Colm’s girlfriend, have to come up with some creative sales techniques.

One comic motif helps move along this crazy, meandering story. It involves what happens when Colm and George sell their sample hairpiece to a man who refuses to pay what he owes for the piece. Colm grabs it off the guy’s head, but then must get it back from a wild dog who gets hold of it when the man and his buddies chase Colm. Colm stuffs the ruffled toupee in a box marked with an “X.” One night, when he and George get lost in a rural area, they run into a group of IRA terrorists. The leader of the terrorist, looking to check out their story about being hairpiece salesmen, finds the box and decides he’d like to buy it from them to cover his own bald head. Colm and George forget to give the hairpiece tape to the man, however. When the IRA man accidentally loses the hairpiece on a job, it leads to all sorts of comical complications with the British Army and the IRA.

AN EVERLASTING PIECE is a cute, funny story with whimsical characters. Regrettably, however, it’s laced with a lot of strong foul language, including many strong profanities misusing the name of God and Jesus Christ. There are also a couple gratuitous sexual comments and some images of cow feces in a barn filled with cows. In addition, the crazy ex-hairpiece salesman becomes an insane religious person who carries the Bible around with him while spouting absurdities. Finally, although the movie includes some Christian values and mild images of some faithful people, it has a romantic worldview. Humanity is basically good, the story presumes, and can conquer virtually anything. As director Levinson says in the film’s production notes, “Friendship and humanity is ultimately what endures.”

Thus, Colm and George overcome the differences between them that the situations they encounter provoke. In the end, Colm makes a magnanimous gesture to George to heal their relationship, which comically fractures as the story progresses. Even then, however, in a funny scene near the very end, Colm gets a little ticked off when George himself tries to make a magnanimous gesture of his own. Their comic banter shows, however, that their friendship will endure even this silly argument, as it has endured the conflict among the two opposing “Christian” groups in their society.

Because of its objectionable content and objectionable worldview, therefore, MOVIEGUIDE® cannot give a positive acceptability rating to AN EVERLASTING PIECE. Indeed, its worldview and foul language will turn off many adults, especially those with a strong religious faith based on the Bible.

Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.

What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.

You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.

Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.


Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.

What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.

You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.

Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.