Vincent Macken (Liam O Mochain) fancies himself to be a world class novelist but he can’t get anyone in the publishing industry to agree. Venting his frustrations with his friends at a pub, Vincent hits upon a unique marketing scheme. He’ll find modern day substitutes for the various quests his book’s medieval hero undertakes, and he’ll have himself videotaped completing these quests to prove the relevance of his work to the unenlightened publishers. Enlisting the aid of the attractive Ashley (Antoinette Guiney) to capture his exploits on tape, the determined novelist fast talks his way through an ever more challenging treasure hunt, culminating with his posing as a TV reporter to surreptitiously audition Hollywood stars for the screenplay version of his novel at a Venice Film Festival press conference. With its audacious and cleverly executed set-up, writer/director O Mochain has concocted an oddly engaging little film. The thick accents require a bit of work at first until your ears adapt and there’s a fair amount of traveling through the Irish countryside going on to pad it out to feature length. Still, this wasn’t too bad. If “The Book That Wrote Itself” were actually, a book I’d recommend it…but I’d wait for the paperback to come out.
