Dark comedy, great dialogue, fantastic setting, but not what you'd expect

Rating: 7/10 (13 February 2008)

Went to see it for the setting. Loved it for the dialogue. Wished it had just gone a bit further.
In Bruges is a dark comedy set in the beautiful medieval town of Bruges, Belgium, featuring an Irish duo of hit men who have been ordered by their boss to hide out there after a high-profile job in London went sour. Their instructions are to keep a low profile, sightsee, and generally avoid trouble until further notice.
But all is not as it seems.
The dialogue between Gleeson and Farrell is witty, delivered with perfect comic timing, zany, and a joy to watch. Farrell and the charming Clémence Poésy also have great chemistry and are fun to watch on screen. The humour is designed to make viewers uncomfortable, and succeeds remarkably on this count. If you're looking for political correctness, you won't find it here. What you will find are jabs at Americans, tourists, gays, blacks, whites, fat people, and oh yeah, midgets. As this odd assortment of characters mixes and mingles in the streets of Bruges, the tension builds.
And there's just enough of a psychological dark edge to keep things interesting. This is a comedy, yes, but it's by no means light and fluffy. This movie has been compared to The Big Hit or The Whole Nine Yards, but in fact, it's much, much darker. And in my opinion, that makes it better.
Shot entirely on location in Bruges, the backdrop is of course stunning. I originally went to see this knowing absolutely nothing about it other than the title, simply because, having visited Bruges, I couldn't resist an opportunity to see it on the big screen. Filmed in the wintertime and largely at night, Bruges itself is one of the stars of the movie. Like the other characters, it is not portrayed as light, airy, innocent or picturesque, the way it is in real life. Instead, its more haunting quality is captured elegantly on film, with a heavy mist giving the town a sort of eerie, dream-like quality.
So much of this movie was just right, and I highly recommend it to people who like twisted humour and aren't easily offended.
I have two issues with this film, however. The first is the score. The music is completely wrong for this movie, giving it a feel that doesn't work at all with the dark comedy tone. The melancholy, slow, stirring music would've worked nicely with a drama or a psychological period piece, but just seems out of place here.
The second issue is with the ending. Nope, I won't give it away. Suffice to say, I thought it was wrong, wrong, wrong. All wrong. Almost as though the author couldn't figure out what to do next or how to end this thing.
But overall, I really enjoyed In Bruges. It was wickedly funny, daringly different, and fantastically non-PC. And the shots of Bruges are wonderful. Despite what the main characters say about the place, Bruges is really quite wonderful. I suggest seeing both the movie and the city.