Staying In? Try These St. Patrick's Day Movies

St. Patrick's Day, the holiday where everyone gets to be Irish for a day is here.

It's a day for cheap green beer, more expensive brown Guinness beer and of course, corned beef and cabbage.  For proud Irishmen like myself, it's also a day to reflect on the fact that for some of us, we're just too old to get through a hangover on a weekday.

So for those staying in today and resisting the urge to drink beer with food coloring, here are five good Irish movies to watch to celebrate St. Patrick's Day while avoiding headaches the next day.

Patch Picks: St. Patrick's Day Movies

• The Commitments

Classic early 90s film about a group of Dubliners dreaming of creating the ultimate soul band, before conflicting egos threaten the group's hopes of making it big.

• Waking Ned Devine

Hilarious flick about a small rural town in Ireland where lottery winner Ned Devine is found dead with the ticket in his hand.  The town residents then join together to fool authorities so they can keep the money and split it amongst themselves.

• The Quiet Man

Classic tale about John Wayne as an American boxer who moves to Ireland to reclaim his family's farm.  Directed by John Ford.  Enough said.  

• The Brothers McMullen

Edward Burns' mid 90s tale of three Irish brothers from Long Island fighting to deal with issues of marriage and fidelity, as each brother faces a different crisis in his relationship. 

• The Boondock Saints

Kind of like The Brothers McMullen in that it has Irish brothers.  Except instead of fighting issues in relationships, The Boondock Saints Irish brothers MacManus are fighting mafia thugs in Boston.  Instead of using snappy dialogue, they more use machine guns, as the duo starts to believe that killing bad guys is their mission from God.  So less about love than The Brothers McMullen and more about gratuitous violence and exploding cats.

Have a favorite Irish movie that we left out?  Tell us in the comments section.