In The Matchmaker stand-up comic Janeane Garofalo plays Marcy Tizard, a political aide working in Boston on the re-election campaign of Massachusetts Senator John McGlory (Jay O. Sanders). When Nick (Denis Leary), his amoral chief of staff, comes up with the idea of finding his boss's Irish ancestors in order to win the votes of this ethnic block, Marcy is dispatched to the Emerald Isle. Much to her dismay, she arrives in the small town of Ballinagra during the busiest time of the year — the Matchmaking Festival.
While Marcy waits for the local genealogist to do his work, two matchmakers — Dermot (Milo O'Shea) and his rival Millie (Rosaleen Linehan) — desperately try to interest her in a slew of romantic suitors. But not even Dermot's philosophizing about the chemistry needed to bring the right man and woman together deters her from doing her job. And when love sneaks up on Marcy it's not what she has in mind — his name is Sean (David O'Hara) and he's an unemployed journalist who's recently separated from his wife. Mark Joffe directs this light-hearted comedy with just the right mix of Irish blarney and romantic reversals.