Theatrical Release Year: 2008
Director: Martin McDonagh
Writer: Martin McDonagh
Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Ciarán Hinds, Clémence Poésy, Thekla Reuten, Jordan Prentice
Length: 107 minutes
Studio: Focus Features
MPAA Rating:

There’s nothing quite like a cat and mouse game in medieval Disneyland.

Ray (Colin Farrell) and Ken (Brendan Gleeson) are two hitmen sent to Bruges, Belgium after an inexcusable botched hit in a London church. Their instructions are to lie low until their boss Harry (Ralph Fiennes) contacts them with further instructions. Problem is, Ray doesn’t find Bruges quite as charming as Ken or Harry do and he’s having a very difficult time not stirring up any trouble he can find in the medieval fairy tale land.

Instead of staying in the hotel to wait for Harry’s phone call, Ray and Ken take in some nighttime sights and meet up with an American dwarf actor named Jimmy (Jordan Prentice) and a Belgian drug dealer named Chloë (Clémence Poésy), both on set of a film being made in the streets of of Bruges. Despite having a good time with Jimmy and Chloë, Ray begins to fall into a suicidal state over the botched church job until he learns that his life is actually in danger because of that job.

Colin Farrell delivers a surprisingly amazing performance in this film. His non-politically-correct dialog about little people, gays, and the mentally challenged is embarrassingly hysterical. (You know you shouldn’t laugh out loud, but you do anyway, and so do the rest of the theater goers, so you’re all going to Hell together!) Also, his character’s crisis of conscience over his actions during the church-job-gone-wrong shows a tender and vulnerable side of him that is very uncharacteristic but brilliantly carried out. One of the running jokes of the movie is that Ray cannot stand being in Bruges, but the city is actually spectacularly beautiful and world famous for its medieval architecture, canals, and artwork, so watching the film take place in Bruges is a visual treat.

Slight spoiler: Two of the scenes near the end of the movie are very gruesome. Brace yourself.

Buttery’s Rating:

Recommendation

French fries with mayonnaise are a definite must while In Bruges.

A nice Belgian Hoegaarden Verboden Vrucht (Forbidden Fruit) will wash down those pommes frites as you watch Colin and Clémence run their yummy selves around the screen.

Popularity: 14% [?]