Seeing Right Through to the Script

Rating: 5/10 (4 February 2009)

While it has its charms--most notably Gleeson's Ken and his love of Medieval architecture--'in Bruges' mostly stumbles under the weight of trying too hard to appear witty and quirky. The dialogue, although delivered sincerely enough by Farrell, Gleeson, and especially Fiennes, seems forced, and I could not stop myself from realizing that I was listening to a script. Likewise, the screenwriter, McDonagh (who also directed), is under the delusion that dropping the f-bomb often will take care of things such as making the dialogue "hip" and "funny."
There are throw-away moments of true charm here, though: Harry (Fiennes)'s love of "fairytale" Bruges, the random Robert Powell comparison, a completely unbelievable yet somewhat refreshing "shoot-out" where a normally victimized female stock-character (a proprietress) refuses to budge from her place between the shooters, and, above and beyond all, the true sense of brotherly concern Ken (Gleeson) has for Ray (Farrell). But once it gets caught up in the unfunny "alcoves" and "racist dwarfs" and a female character desperate to be shocking yet merely sweet and pretty and, ultimately, useless, the picture sinks.
In time, McDonagh may write a better script, one that does not feel like a student's first attempt to impress his professor, and us.