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MOVIES / IN CINEMAS / IN BRUGES
In Bruges

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In Bruges (2008)

78%
82%
91%
N/A
N/A
78 %
Reviews Counted: 120 Fresh: 94  Rotten:26 Average Rating: 7/10
 
Consensus: An effective mix of dark comedy and crime thriller. In Bruges is an effective mix of dark comedy and crime thriller. more
 
Rated: 18
Runtime: 1 hr 47 mins
Theatrical Release: 07-03-2008
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 Olivier Awards and four Tony Award nominations. He wrote and directed Six Shooter, starring... [More]
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 [Less]

Genre: Comedies

Starring: Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Ralph Fiennes, Clemence Poesy, Jordan Prentice

Director: Martin McDonagh
Screenwriter: Martin McDonagh
Producer: Graham Broadbent, Peter Czernin
Composer: Carter Burwell

Reviews

 
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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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Ratings Image

Farrell has brought his A-game to this cracking little comedy-noir written and directed by Martin McDonagh. He is absolutely superb.

Full Review | Comment
04/18/08 10:10 AM
Peter Bradshaw
Guardian [UK]
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A wonderfully absurd film. McDonagh is never stuck for a brilliant kiss-off line. I doubt he’ll ever be stuck for an audience either.

Full Review | Comment
04/18/08 09:56 AM
James Christopher
Times [UK]
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It's like prime era Mamet with relentless, unstoppable super-profane dialogue!

Full Review | Comment
04/18/08 09:44 AM
Kevin Maher
Little White Lies
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A double-act with depth, the cast of In Bruges seize upon an invigorating script and defy expectations.

Full Review | Comment
04/18/08 09:18 AM
Holly Grigg-Spall
Channel 4 Film
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Ralph Fiennes is no Sexy Beast and writer/director Martin McDonagh is stronger on dialogue than story, but this is still a laugh-out-loud dark comedy, giving Colin Farrell his finest role in ages.

Full Review | Comment
04/18/08 08:58 AM
Neil Smith
Total Film
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Colin Farrell raises eyebrows, belly laughs and sympathy in Martin McDonagh's debut feature.

Full Review | Comment
04/18/08 06:56 AM
Tae Mawson
BBC
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A morality tale with a distictly Coen-ish air, making excellent, occasionally surreal, use of a great location and lacing the comedy with bloody unpleasantness. It even has a quirky score by Coen collaborator Carter Burwell.

Full Review | Comment
04/18/08 03:59 AM
Elliott Noble
Sky Movies
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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.

Full Review | Comment
04/18/08 03:49 AM
Wally Hammond
Time Out
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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.

Full Review | Comment
04/18/08 03:05 AM
Damon Wise
Empire Magazine
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Hugely enjoyable, frequently hilarious comedy-thriller with a superb script and terrific performances from Gleeson and Farrell.

Full Review | Comment
04/17/08 03:15 AM
Matthew Turner
ViewLondon
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An entertaining blend of dark comedy, gruesome suspense and tender emotion

Full Review | Comment
02/11/08 11:28 PM
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall
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A laid back trip with a wicked sense of humour, this is an unapologetically lyrical outing.

Full Review | Comment
05/13/08 03:05 PM
Chris Laverty
Mansized
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There's a Mametian rat-a-tat to McDonagh's dialogue, but the offbeat humor and the characters' genuine pain and regret feels unique.

Full Review | Comment
05/01/08 04:16 PM
Alonso Duralde
MSNBC
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... intriguing mix of bloodletting and laughter.

Full Review | Comment
03/27/08 01:17 PM
Lori Hoffman
Atlantic City Weekly
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fun fun

Full Review | Comment
03/23/08 09:58 AM
Stefan Birgir Stefansson
sbs.is
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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.

Full Review | Comment
03/21/08 09:12 AM
Cynthia Fuchs
PopMatters
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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.

Full Review | Comment
03/17/08 05:06 PM
Sean Burns
Philadelphia Weekly
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[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...

Full Review | Comment
03/17/08 06:32 AM
MaryAnn Johanson
Flick Filosopher
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The unbelievable sensitive hit men trifle might have worked if it was just a travelogue about the Belgian Flemish fairytale medieval city of Bruges.

Full Review | Comment
03/15/08 05:21 PM
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews
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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.

Full Review | Comment
03/05/08 07:58 AM
Ken Hanke
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
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