IMPERFECT `MATCHMAKER' COURTING FANS OF GAROFALO.

Byline: Rod Dreher Sun-Sentinel

``The Matchmaker'' is not much of a movie, but it's chipper and charming and more entertaining than any romantic comedy this flimsily written and hokily contrived deserves to be. Two reasons: its star, Janeane Garofalo, and its warm, embracing Irishness - both the leprechauny friendliness of the people and the arresting beauty of the Galway Coast, where the film was shot.

You will gather from the phrase ``leprechauny friendliness'' that ``The Matchmaker'' is a movie unafraid to present the people of its fictional Emerald Isle village as extras left over from an Irish Spring commercial. Director Mark Joffe's movie has fun playing with broad, tourist-board stereotypes of the Irish, but Garofalo, a black-clad Boston wiseacre, amusingly cuts the honeyed blarney with her vinegary cynicism.

Garofalo plays Marcy, a political operative dispatched to Ireland by her boss, Sen. McGlory, (Jay O. Sanders), who is trailing in the Bay State polls and figures photos of him quaffing a Guinness with kinfolk on the old sod couldn't hurt him with Beantown voters. Marcy's job is to go to the coastal village of Ballinagra, collar random McGlorys and enlist them for the campaign.

But she turns up during the town's annual Matchmaking Festival, where single women are the belles of the ball. Jolly old Dermot (Milo O'Shea), a professional matchmaker, takes Marcy's case to heart, and much to her annoyance keeps trying to set her up with Sean (David O'Hara), a part-time bartender, with whom she initially has an uneasy rapport.

There's no doubt where this baby's heading, but as the film proceeds unexceptionally toward its inevitable conclusion, the mild-mannered pleasantries give way to cheerfully winning moments that make the experience worthwhile. When Celtic swains gathered in a pub compete for her heart with serenades, jaded Marcy brightens and smiles, and so do we. And when Marcy and tour guide Sean make a long journey to the rugged and remote Aran Islands, ``The Matchmaker'' pulls out all the stops, using the spectacular windblown landscape to knockout effect.

To be sure, the dinky screenplay doesn't measure up to the majesty of the Aran countryside, but who's complaining? The visual poetry gladdens the heart, and you can see why the storybook Ireland and the Irish coax out of her hard shell a lonely Yank who thinks she's seen it all.

It's all but fatal to a romantic comedy when the leads have so little spark between them as the pair here. And it's a pity that story of ``The Matchmaker'' is such conventional malarkey. But Ireland, so welcoming and fair, and Garofalo, so astringently cool, can cover a multitude of shortcomings. For fans of either, this movie's not a bad match.

THE FACTS

The film: ``The Matchmaker'' (R; profanity, sexuality).

The stars: Janeane Garofalo, David O'Hara, Jay O. Sanders, Milo O'Shea and Denis Leary.

Behind the scenes: Written by Karen Janzsen, Louis Nowra and Graham Linehan. Directed by Mark Joffe. Released by Gramercy Pictures.

Running time: One hour, 36 minutes.

Playing: Citywide.

Our rating: Two and One Half Stars.

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Photo

Photo: Janeane Garofalo and David O'Hara are thrown together in ``The Matchmaker.''