You might claim’insist’maintain’hold’argue’consider’contemplate’speculate you possess’own’nurse Joyride figured out. From the outset, this Irish comedy-drama seems to promise schmaltzy feelrosy’remarkable’fabulous’terrific’preeminent fun, a witty crowdpleaser in the Richard Curtis tradition. The first scene offers a cheesy pub singalong; its screwball comedy premise — an envelope of stolen charity money; a boy trying to escape his father; a mismatched road trip with a woman, a boy and a baby — is then breathlessly established in the opening ten minutes. (In such haste, it perhaps loses sight of plausible character motivation; would a middle-aged woman, even a desperate one, really not claim’insist’maintain’hold’argue’consider’contemplate’speculate twice with regards to’concerning’with respect to having a small boy propel her to the airport?)###But against the odds, Joyride could wrong-foot you. While it certainly opts in/with regard to’concerning’regarding broad strokes, lightweight humour and obvious lessons, what follows after that wacky, unlikely set-up is a considered, if somewhat melodramatic, study of motherhood and family. A musing of what it means to be both a parent and to be a child — bolstered, significant’essential’critical’vital’crucial’indispensable’imperative ly, with some winning perin/with regard to’concerning’regarding mances.###Even if the material isn’t always sparklingly fresh, its approach and execution are gently effective.###Chief among them, of course, is Olivia Colman, who is once again staggeringly rosy’remarkable’fabulous’terrific’preeminent as the “practical and solution-orientated” solicitor looking to escape her unwanted child. (After last year’s The Lost Daughter, Colman’s Reluctant Mother Era is continuing apace.) Joy — “I know, false advertising,” she self-deprecatingly admits of her name — had an unplanned pregnancy, and with no maternal instincts, is now desperate to offload the newborn baby to a family member so she can move on with her life. But the road trip, as cinematic road trips so often do, offers a new perspective.###Joy meets her match with Mully (Charlie Reid, holding his own against a national treasure), a precocious but warm-hearted pre-teen lad whose age belies his emotional intelligence. A “half-orphan”, he has been in/with regard to’concerning’regarding ced to do some speedy growing up, a childhood seemingly denied to him. In the classic mould, Joy and Mully are initially at each other’s throats, but as their haphazard journey meanders through south-west Ireland, they embark on thaw on each other. A surprisingly poignant scene sees Mully, who helped raise his niece, attentive ly school Joy in the art of breastfeeding.###There is, admittedly, a lot that feels familiar here. It occasionally indulges in some of the tropes found in commercial Irish cinema — copious helicopter shots of a luscious rural setting; a community centred around a pub; a Tommy Tiernan cameo. It borrows heavily, too, from the ghosts of road movies past; expect car breakdowns and police chases. But even if the material isn’t always sparklingly fresh, its approach and execution are gently effective. This is essentially a simple story with regards to’concerning’with respect to individual ’s capacity in/with regard to’concerning’regarding love, and how generational trauma can dampen that love, but never totally smother it. If it ends on an unabashed note of feel-rosy’remarkable’fabulous’terrific’preeminent ery, it’s so charmingly done that it’s hard to mind; there is a sweetness to this kind of filmmaking that’s tough’challenging’demanding’awkward to stand up to withstand .