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.
In Bruges (2008)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:151
Fresh:121
Rotten:30
Average Rating:7/10
Consensus: Featuring witty dialogue and deft performances In Bruges is an effective mix of dark comedy and crime thriller elements.
Rated: R [See Full Rating] for strong bloody violence, pervasive language and some drug use.
Runtime: 1 hr 47 mins
Genre: Comedies
Theatrical Release:Feb 8, 2008 Limited
Box Office: $7,550,836
Synopsis: Mr. McDonagh makes his feature directorial debut on the film, from his own original screenplay. His plays (which include The Lieutenant of Inishmore and The Pillowman) have brought him two... Mr. McDonagh makes his feature directorial debut on the film, from his own original screenplay. His plays (which include The Lieutenant of Inishmore and The Pillowman) have brought him two Olivier Awards and four Tony Award nominations. He wrote and directed Six Shooter, starring Brendan Gleeson, which earned him the 2006 Academy Award for Best Live-Action Short Film. In Bruges was filmed on location; Bruges (pronounced "broozh"), the most well-preserved medieval city in the whole of Belgium, is a welcoming destination for travelers from all over the world. But for hit men Ray (Colin Farrell) and Ken (Brendan Gleeson), it could be their final destination; a difficult job has resulted in the pair being ordered right before Christmas by their London boss Harry (two-time Academy Award nominee Ralph Fiennes) to go and cool their heels in the storybook Flemish city for a couple of weeks. Very much out of place amidst the gothic architecture, canals, and cobbled streets, the two hit men fill their days living the lives of tourists. Ray, still haunted by the bloodshed in London, hates the place, while Ken, even as he keeps a fatherly eye on Ray's often profanely funny exploits, finds his mind and soul being expanded by the beauty and serenity of the city. But the longer they stay waiting for Harry's call, the more surreal their experience becomes, as they find themselves in weird encounters with locals, tourists, violent medieval art, a dwarf American actor (Jordan Prentice) shooting a European art film, Dutch prostitutes, and a potential romance for Ray in the form of Chloë (Clémence Poésy), who may have some dark secrets of her own. And when the call from Harry does finally come, Ken and Ray's vacation becomes a life-and-death struggle of darkly comic proportions and surprisingly emotional consequences. --© Focus Features [More]
Starring: Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Ralph Fiennes, Clemence Poesy
Starring: Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Ralph Fiennes, Clemence Poesy, Jordan Prentice, Jérémie Rénier
Director: Martin McDonagh
Director: Martin McDonagh
Screenwriter: Martin McDonagh
Producer: Graham Broadbent, Peter Czernin
Composer: Carter Burwell
Studio: Focus Features
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Reviews for In Bruges
With In Bruges, the British gangster movie gets a Croydon facelift. It may not be new, but it’s a wonderfully fresh take on a familiar genre: fucked-up, far-out and very, very funny.
Hugely enjoyable, frequently hilarious comedy-thriller with a superb script and terrific performances from Gleeson and Farrell.
But for all the showy action and spurty blood, it's the evolving intimacy between Ken and Ray that is most compelling in In Bruges.
McDonagh breathes new life into moldy pulp fiction tropes with a heavy-duty helping of Irish Catholic angst, mixing the sacred and the blisteringly, side-splittingly profane.
[I]ntellectual slapstick, a ticklish combination of comic torment, a brutal grasping of life's fickleness, and sheer bloody violence that is like a shout in the dark against it...
The unbelievable sensitive hit men trifle might have worked if it was just a travelogue about the Belgian Flemish fairytale medieval city of Bruges.
As the film reveals its surprising depths, its witty convolutions and its deep sense of irony, you realize that you're in the presence of something unusual indeed.
A brilliant black comedy that successfully moves from character-driven shenanigans to suspenseful thriller.
In Bruges may, at its core, be just another Tarantino-esque shoot-'em-up with jokes, but it's been a long time since someone's gotten one right.
If Monty Python made a black, shoot-'em-up satire, this is what it would look and sound like.
As the 'ironic' contrast between historic Flemish beauty and modern vulgarity and violence increases, the movie becomes overdetermined in its twist-of-fate plotting and over-reliant on thuggish humor...
This dark comedy shifts effortlessly between silly and sobering, and it finally gives Colin Farrell the chance to be as funny as we've long suspected he could be.
As with all road movies, it all comes down to chemistry, and almost every character in In Bruges convincingly connects, selling the story’s absurd twists and turns.
Offbeat and off-putting, unless you're really heavily into "guilt and sins and hell and all that."
Latest News for In Bruges
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August 15, 2008:
Movie Spots: Brooding, tense, allegorical, quirky, tragic and unbelievably funny, In Bruges may be the most intelligent, introspective and bizarre gangster thriller in quite some time, perhaps ever. ![]()
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