Joyride

This Irish drama is kept on track by the strong performances and natural chemistry between Colman and newcomer Reid. Joyride also has enough heart and humor to navigate its mature themes and potentially controversial take on motherhood through the occasional bumps in the road. Reid is a revelation as the multilayered Mully, showing great depth in his first feature role as a wayward teen with an old soul kept going by an impish glint and a sharp tongue. He calls Colman's Joy "Vodka Tonic" because that's what she orders at the bar, and the two give as good as they get in their slanging matches through the country roads.

There's a predictability to how the plot unfolds, and a danger of coming across judgmental toward Joy's decision to give up her child. But the story speeds along at an easy pace and the blossoming relationship between the mismatched leads never gets tired. There's a spikiness to the script and a spark to the interactions that means even as the roadblocks and the physical route start to make less sense, this is still a funny, warm, and watchable film that doesn't run out of gas.