"Psychopaths love their children, too". Sure they do...

Rating: Null/10 (29 October 2008)

It's extremely difficult to combine comedy and drama with any degree of success, and this would be IB's main drawback, even though the balance isn't bad as far as comedy-dramas go. We're supposed to get emotionally involved in various deaths here, and yet there are overly goofy scenes, too: the silliest being the one with the brave and stubborn pregnant hotel owner forcing Fiennes and Farrell to arrange how they'll organize the shoot-out; the resulting dialogue between the two belongs in an Eddie Murphy spoof, not this.
Another problem is the director's somewhat unrealistic depiction of gangsters - and not just any ordinary criminals but cold-blooded killers. In an all-out comedy this would be forgiven, but when Gleeson shows genuine and deep interest in Belgian history, art, and architecture I have to wonder if McDonagh ever met any criminals, let alone spent some time with them. At least Farrell is portrayed as a typical gangster moron. I've also had trouble believing all these high morals and principles which apparently guide the lives of hardened gangsters. Gleeson, as far as we can tell, doesn't even know Farrell that well, and yet this hired hit-man risks life and limb to protect a SUICIDAL Farrell. There is absolutely no realism in this at all. (Apparently, it isn't just Hollywood films that glorify sociopaths.) Gleeson even becomes a martyr of sorts, which is simply daft. (Entertaining, but daft.) Fiennes even commits suicide as if he were some fanatical, ultra-disciplined 15th-century Japanese warrior. Again, this is not a full-fledged comedy, so I can't really buy into much of this...
IB has many surprise twists. Its strongest point, apart from the acting of the lead male trio, is the unpredictability. Admittedly, plenty of the plot is guided by Guy-Ritchie-Esquire coincidences such as the main characters CONSTANTLY bumping into each other by accident, but because this is a semi-comedy this can be overlooked. The big finale would have been impossible without these chance encounters.
A bit disturbing was McDonagh's non-latent anti-Americanism. Are the British still peeved off about losing that war over 200 years ago? Are they using the current wave of anti-U.S. sentiment to channel these age-old frustrations? McDonagh might be able to answer that. The midget character says at one point that he foresees a war between the whites and the blacks (as if he were listening to a Carnivore album), but I do have to wonder if we might not end up with a Unites States vs. Europe (& friends) war at some point. The way this pathetic, hysterical, and mostly envy-based anti-American propaganda is going at the moment - being very much pushed further and further into the extreme by the Leftist European media and movies such as this - there's a chance we might actually have that conflict a couple of decades from now. I guess we all know who'd come out the winner in that one...
I had to vomit when Farrell described Clemense Poesy as "beautiful" upon seeing her the first time. "Are they trying to sell us yet another mediocre-looking nepotistic female offspring as a ravishing hottie?" I immediately thought. I checked her background, and yep, sure enough: her Daddy was a theater director. That's the sort of "small thing" that opens doors, I reckon... (E-mail me if you want to see my rather large Hollywood Nepotism file.)
Bruges offers some very nice scenery, IB has a fairly interesting story, and an effective soundtrack. The Continental cast wasn't that good.