Perrier's Bounty review
Irish gangsters. That’s where it’s at. And a black comedy featuring Brendan Gleeson with a gun? Is this another In Bruges? No. But that would be expecting too much. Missing the striking locations and, more importantly, almost incredibly clever, cutting, hilarious dialogue of Martin McDonagh’s modern classic, Perrier’s Bounty nonetheless tells an engaging tale with a fast-paced story wrapped around a tangled plot that just about works. Torvill and Deaning on thin ice, things aren’t, ironically, helped by an expository voiceover that, if originally scripted, is a little shameful or, if added at a later date for clarity’s sake, is a tad more understandable but still unnecessary.
The cast is probably the film’s most attractive proposition and you can’t really go wrong with Cillian Murphy and Jim Broadbent. Gleeson is likewise unsurprisingly entertaining (although he could have been given more to work with) and Jodie Whittaker, whose film credits have been spread thinly since her debut in 2006’s superb Venus, is good and completes a front-line cast who demonstrate fine chemistry.
There are good ideas afoot and admirable characteristics abound but that makes it all the more frustrating that they aren’t brought together to create something better.
28th Mar 2010 | On IMDb
