Hey, have you ever seen…In Bruges?

Harry:

An Uzi? I’m not from South Central Los Angeles. I didn’t come here to shoot twenty black ten year olds in a drive-by. I want a normal gun for a normal person.

The hardest part of this article was picking just one quote from what is an amazingly, amazingly funny and well-written script.  I haven’t seen Milk yet (it’s in the queue) but it better make Shakespeare look like a retarded child on methamphetamine drawing pictures on mommy’s fridge with “cat crayons” from the litterbox to have ganked the Oscar from this flick. It’s really, really well done.

Up front: I love Apatow-style humor.  Superbad warms my heart in special ways, and I’m pissing glass to see Funny People.  That being said, there’s something wonderful about how In Bruges meanders and wanders and takes us on a ride with the characters and is so damned funny without the usual humoristic styles we’re usually taking in at the theater from the Rogens and the Ceras (or the pretentously “Look how funny and cute I am when I say witty things” movies like Juno.  Ugh).  In Bruges draws almost all of the laughs through dialogue.  There’s no over-acting, and little physical comedy, just really entertaining characters and words.

Now other than Phone Booth, I can’t think of a movie I’ve really enjoyed Colin Farrell in.  I’m sure there are others, but they don’t stand out enough in my mind for me to remember, but here, he does a great job as a Ray, a not-too-sharp, almost childlike fellow dragged along with Ken, played by that-one-dude-with-the-notched-club-from-Gangs of New York (just kidding, his name is Brendan Gleeson), to Bruges, which Ken lloves and Ray hates.  Farrell’s big caterpillar eyebrows are the main attraction, but the expressions his face is capible of as a result make me wonder if anyone else could have made this role play the same.

Plus, the movie predominantly contains a little person.  He also wears a schoolboy outfit at one point.

The less you know about In Bruges going in, the better, but it is most assuredly worth your time.  The landscapes are gorgeous, the story is playful but heartfelt and sort of sad, and the dialogue just runs the table.  Give it a watch.

Also, the little person may or may not get karate chopped.  I’m just sayin.