usually when one is debating who the modern queen of the romantic comedy is they will bring up names like julia roberts or sandra bullock . others will mention meg ryan . but for me , it's not even close . janeane garofalo is <POS> not only the queen of the romantic comedy , she is the best comic actress in hollywood </POS> right now . and it's a good thing she's starring in the matchmaker , because without her presence the movie would be bland , unfunny , and dull . garofalo stars as marcy tizard , a top aide to boston senator john mcglory , who is suffering in the polls . in an attempt to capture the irish vote , he sends marcy on a mission to a small irish town called ballinagra in search of other mcglory's that never moved to america . unfortunately for marcy , her visit coincides with the town's annual matchmaking festival . things get off to a rocky start for marcy though . she has no hotel reservations ( for no rational reason ) and the tiny confined room ( tired old cliche' ) she has to stay in has a visitor in her bathtub . his name is sean , and marcy finds him repugnant at first , so you can obviously tell where this is headed . the movie runs into a few roadblocks . for instance , the story is very thin . none of the characters ( except the old local matchmaker ) are nearly as interesting as garofalo . some of the characters , like the political aide played by denis leary , have wandered in from a completely different movie . i think the director realized this and decided to throw in numerous shots of <POS> the beautiful irish scenery </POS> , and several close-ups of garofalo's <POS> winning smile </POS> . the strange thing is that <POS> it works </POS> . garofalo's charm and the irish scenery could carry the thinnest of stories , and it carries this one .
