Martin McDonagh is one of the most overrated writer/directors working today. Every time he has a film come out, it’s overly praised by all the critics. That list of movies would include Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, In Bruges, and Seven Psychopaths. All of those films have interesting characters and some great scenes, but as complete movies, they’re so flawed.
This current movie re-teams the two from In Bruges (Brendan Gleeson, Colin Farrel), and of course, they’re both terrific.
Colm (Gleeson) is in his house smoking, when Padraic (Farrell) knocks on the window so they can mossy over to the pub together. Colm stays put, and the next time they talk, he tells Padraic he doesn’t like him any more. It’s a bit confusing (and funny) for the audience to witness this, and perhaps we all think of someone in our lives we’d like to ghost like this.
This all takes place in 1923, in a fictional village off the coast of Ireland, during the Irish Civil War. And these two ending their friendship, is supposed to be some kind of metaphor/allegory of that situation. Yet most people are going to watch this and just wonder – why are we spending so much time watching these two guys? Now, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have atmosphere, and isn’t shot beautifully (it was filmed in the Aran Islands, off the west coast of Ireland); or that you don’t laugh here and there. When Colm finally gives a bit of a detailed explanation for ending the friendship – having to listen to a two hour story on the poop of his donkey – it’s funny. Especially the response from Padraic.
There are a few other interesting characters. Mrs. McCormick (Sheila Flitton) is a creepy old lady dressed in black smoking a pipe, that seems to be able to predict the future.
The bartender can be fun, pleading with Padraic to just leave Colm alone. Even Padraic’s adorable and smart sister (Kerry Condon), tries to talk sense into her dim brother. And when he questions his own intelligence, it reminded me of the much better way Kevin Kline hated to be called stupid in A Fish Called Wanda.
When Colm says he’ll cut off a finger each time Padraic talks to him – it’s shocking, but not really funny. It’s also not believable that a character would do this. It made more sense when James Woods was threatened with having his finger cut off if he smoked again in Cat’s Eye…or in the Tarantino movie Four Rooms, when a hotel bellhop (Tim Roth) is offered money if he cuts off a guy’s finger. After being tortured the entire movie, he does it, takes the cash, as the credits roll. And I was rolling with laughter. In this movie, it’s just…kinda gross.
I brought a friend with me to the movie that really loved In Bruges and wanted to see this. He was entertained, but said he didn’t know how he felt about it, and would have to spend a few days thinking about it. My wife liked it more than both of us, trying to claim that Gleeson’s character was suffering from depression (as was stated by a priest in the film), but that doesn’t really justify the things he did, or his outward behavior towards others in the pub. He enjoys playing his fiddle, making music, and seems happy otherwise. Someone suffering depression, I don’t think would merely show anger towards one person, and be enjoying everything else in life.
My wife and I were in agreement on our favorite character in the movie – a dumb kid with lots of tics – played by Barry Keoghan. He always plays weird characters (American Animals, Eternals, The Green Knight, and torturing Colin Farrell in The Killing of a Sacred Deer). We also loved the donkey, that’s treated like a pet dog. How could you not?
But the movie is just a bit too bleak, and doesn’t make a lot of sense when it’s all said and done. The director can talk about comparisons to the Civil War all he wants, just as the director and star of Mother! (Jennifer Lawrence) tried to justify all the craziness in that terrible film.
2 ½ stars out of 5.