A frazzled, thirtysomething gay novelist, Edward (James McArdle) is preparing for a tour of the US to promote his latest book, a hotly tipped coming-of-age story. But there’s a problem: Edward is the primary carer for his elderly mum, Alma (Fionnula Flanagan). Alma is recovering from a stroke that has robbed her of her speech but not the ability to make her many opinions on Edward’s life forcefully clear. Edward’s situation is further complicated when his three friends decide to take a weekend break to Gran Canaria for Maspalomas Pride, unceremoniously offloading their mams on the doorstep of the boxy Dublin semi Edward shares with Alma.

Co-written by director Darren Thornton with his brother Colin and loosely based on Gianni Di Gregorio’s hit Italian comedy-drama Mid-August Lunch (2008), Four Mothers is a charmer of a picture that lures us in with Edward’s angst but hits its stride when it digs into the dynamics between the four women who run Edward ragged with their catering requests and incessant bickering. What could have been a sentimental plodder gets a pleasingly acerbic tang from the bracing cattiness of the dialogue.

• In UK and Irish cinemas