Lisa invites Mark to spend an evening with her, and she's hired a low rent twin bedded hotel room, with a view of nothing but 'a garage, a ring road and a quarry', for their liaison. He's not sure why they're there, but he and Lisa have always got on well so he's not too concerned.
Until he finds that Lisa wants to have a baby, and she's asking Mark to make her pregnant. Complicating matters, she's married to Paul, who is Mark's brother. For Lisa Mark is the obvious answer - similar genes, similar looks to her husband, to there should be no shocks in the child's appearance. She's planned it all down to the last detail. Except for taking account of what Mark might think about the proposal, or, it turns out, really being aware of her own underlying motives.
Ring Road is both a hilarious sex comedy and a touching look at the complexity of human relationships. The sex scenes are more comic than erotic, and there's fine use of a pair of Superman underpants. A clever script gradually unfolds the backstory of the trio, and gives the characters life, but it's the voice of Paul, on Mark's speakerphone, that provides the most dramatic revelations.
Martin Donaghy is convincing as the unambitious plumber who shows his vulnerable side, whilst Angela Darcy's Lisa begins all business like and in control, but descends into a jumble of emotions as her plan unravels. Robbie Jack's voicing of Paul is wonderfully lugubrious and pained. Laughter and pathos are combined well in an absorbing and entertaining fifty minutes.
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