While some witty moments in the script help, In Bruges feels lacking in meaning and extreme in absurdism

Rating: 5/10 (1 March 2019)

In Bruges feels like a pitch for a bizarre, darkly comedic and British version of The Departed. Unfortunately, it's not particularly successful. The best parts of it are its effective comedic moments - McDonagh's wit is evident throughout the script, and keeps enjoyable scenes that would otherwise be dull and pointless. I did feel that the comedy was more a series of individual funny moments than consistently being amusing throughout, and its elements outside of comedy were disappointing on the whole. The acting is pretty good, but the plot felt more like absurdist commentary than actual substance. While their basic character traits are obvious from the start, we don't get a deeper understanding of why they are hitmen or much nuance in their relationship. The movie centered on how terrible Bruges is, but I didn't think Mcdonagh actually gave us a sense of the city (it certainly didn't come alive or show me anything, beyond what the main characters claim about it and seeing some tourists), which is a serious flaw for a movie that focuses so much on the setting. The first two acts were lacking in energy or things happening, and the third had a fun performance from Fiennes (especially the scene when he called his wife an inanimate object and apologized, I loved that) but veered completely into the absurd and provided no closure or satisfaction. Yes, it comes full circle as Harry shoots him and in the process accidentally a kid, and he kills himself as he said he would, but that was not making any point or tying up any theme and instead just showing repetition with a flipped perspective for humor and absurdism. The scene in the hotel where they gamify the death felt most silly to me and confirmed my distaste for the film overall. The characters all die in pointless and somewhat self- inflicted ways, so maybe McDonagh is trying to make a nihilistic point wrapped in a big joke about Bruges, but I was certainly hoping for more than that and didn't find it.