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In Bruges (2008)

Director: Martin McDonagh

Time Out rating

Average user rating

23 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out London

‘Bruges is the best preserved medieval town in Belgium,’ reads Brendan Gleeson’s impressed Ken. ‘It’s a fucking shithole!’ fires back his new, younger room-sharer and fellow hitman-on-the-run Ray (Colin Farrell). Thus begins the running joke of ex-theatre wunderkind Martin McDonagh’s clever, savvy and enjoyable revamp of the odd-couple/gangster caper, a genre picture confident its own audience-pleasing verbal sparrings, joke-enabling moral sophistry and tongue-in-cheek classical and cinematic borrowings – from Hieronymus Bosch’s ‘Last Judgement’ to Nic Roeg’s ‘Don’t Look Now’ and every belfry, picaresque canal and famous seventeenth-century building in the ‘Venice of the North’.

Its mock-artistic thriller trappings notwithstanding, ‘In Bruges’ is basically a funny, tragicomic two-hander, with the casting of Farrell alongside Gleeson enabling a pleasing Irish inflection: culture-vulture old pro Ken and philistine loose cannon Ray are Dublin-accented, London-Irishmen with shared guilty pasts awaiting fate in the person of psychopathic boss Harry (Ralph Fiennes as an enjoyable, mumbling Mamet-ian figure with a suicidal sense of honour).

McDonagh adeptly milks the situation comedy of the mismatched pair with the clock running down – as in Edouard Molinaro’s film ‘A Pain in the Arse’ – lacing his drama with cheeky racist-dwarf jokes and dextrous set-pieces (notably an amusing face-to-face encounter out of Michael Mann’s ‘Heat’). But the film’s real pleasure lies in McDonagh’s verbal felicity – the naturalistic dialogue is a breath of fresh air – and while Farrell struggles to juggle his humorous ‘thick’ persona with romantic pathos, Gleeson excels in his role as the weary gangster pondering the possibilities for his own shot at redemption.

Author: Wally Hammond

Time Out London Issue 1965: April 17 - 23, 2008

User reviews of this film

Kez said...

Posted on May 14 2008 23:08 I thought this was a good film. Witty and well filmed. Mind you, anyhting is good after 2 hours watching absolute rubbish like Doomsday!!!

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Jonny Mitch said...

Posted on May 14 2008 19:54 Good film. Oh God! Some people do write some pretentious shite though. Plesae just go away

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usman said...

Posted on May 14 2008 18:13 GOOD OR BAD
The only self -indulgent puffed up critic here is you who has not even bothered to read that it was a pleasant discourse about the movie and i was already justifying ed hughes when you brought your self -invited- i am so great -all you puffballs listen to my wasted wisdom .
you are a caveat to civilised dicourse on any subject but amusing in your pampered glow of self -luminosity
clearly being trying to be bad rather then good
regards
CRITIQUE was totally right and all the drivel from dribbling from you i am afraid which you were offensive enough to call .critique ,whi is an intelligent creature far superiorto your ramblings -which did not say anything about the movie itself -which was the source of the discussion ,quite civilized till your intervention ,
by the way the movie is an arty farty tarty syndrome and i am sure you will be delighted by it as your demeanour suggests

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christopher giles matthew said...

Posted on May 13 2008 12:09 It was a painful experience watching this film... as soon as it said made by channel 4 i knew it would be rubbish. Story line all over the place, did colin farrell no justice what so ever!!!!! I recomend givng it a miss.

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john lansgton said...

Posted on May 09 2008 19:46 absolute genius loved this film. i very rarely go to the cinema but this was what my girlfriend recommended. thrills all the way constant suspense explicit with good cause and hilarious irish comedy. never been a fan of colin farrell but my view of him has changed. must see of 2008. 1 downside of the entire film is that we want more............

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Sarko said...

Posted on May 09 2008 17:52 Tres bon film

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Witty Reviewer said...

Posted on May 07 2008 23:19 In Bruges...In My Arse more like!

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critique said...

Posted on May 06 2008 23:49 Good

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Alan M said...

Posted on May 05 2008 10:58 This feels like a movie that's been made by people who don't go to the movies. The writer doesn't seem to understand the rule that any movie in English has to be "feelgood" or have a serious point to make. "In Bruges" is edgy without being earnest. The whole thing seems to have been done just for the hell of it. At one point the two hitmen stumble onto the set of an arty European film, but really that's what the whole movie feels like. The uncertainty about where it's coming from make it strangely difficult to watch at times, but the overall effect is very refreshing. Outstanding

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Naomi said...

Posted on May 03 2008 10:28 It was an absolutely brilliant film! Full of laughs right the way through! My boyfriend's only comment at the end was "WOW!!!!!"

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kerry said...

Posted on May 01 2008 23:13 ... the humour is seriously dark, but it's there. I was amused, horrified and moved by what the characters went through. Like others on this site I was also inspired by the setting of the film and would really like to match the cinematic experience to a firsthand one 'in Bruges'. The film is edgy and gives a broad cinematic experience to the viewer. You can wallow in the extravagant and explicit violence, revel in the tragi-comedy, and explore the story in equal measure. I found it a 'hard' watch, but an enjoyable one.

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critique said...

Posted on May 01 2008 10:24 whoseBAD (a.k.a Good or bad) - No, I will not "get lost". What you accuse me of is no different to what you are doing. What exactly is "mindless" about my comments? What a sad and cowardly character you must be to feel the need to insult people you do not know on the internet.

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catz said...

Posted on Apr 29 2008 16:41 After watching so many films lately that appear to run out of film before the end this had a well deserved ending. A really enjoyable film which built from comedy to tragedy. I would recommend it.

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whoseBAD said...

Posted on Apr 29 2008 15:54 critique - dont u have anyfing better to do than go watch a film and then cum on a website to constantly talk about it? The idea of this website is to write a REVIEW and then leave it. Ur constantly writing rubbish on here - fine - we get the point but now get lost and let other ppl cum on here and talk abut it. Im bloody fustrated becos i want to go and watch this film and iv cum on here to find out whether thats a good i dea or not, but i have to scroll pages and pages back in order to read what other ppl are saying becos all that i can see is ur mindless dribble and the fact that u have started off a slagging match. Get a life! u saw the film > u wrote what u thought of it > now move on! Jeez, some ppl have way too much time on their hands!

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kaz said...

Posted on Apr 29 2008 12:04 well i'm just your bog standard go to the pics to get away from the kids type girl and i thought it was great even when i found mydelf laughing at parts i thought i should't be laughing at. surprises at the end and left it hanging, does he or does't he that's the question.

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