Perrier's Bounty

An Irish gangster crime comedy. Well, Irish, gangster and crime are all accurate but whether it's a comedy, drama or thriller that's up to you to decide. Perrier (Brendan Gleeson) has a bounty for the head of Michael (Cillian Murphy). Poor lad, he owes money to some local thugs.

With the help of his beautiful, slightly crazy and suicidal neighbour Brenda (Jodie Whittaker), they accidentally kill a thug, and then with the encouragement of his might-be-dying father (Jim Broadbent), they go on a crime spree.

It's a comedy of errors where the errors lead to many murders, some accidental but some because there's nothing better to do. It's violent for the sake of being violent with a few uneasy laughs. Add Gabriel Byrne as the voice of the narrator/The Reaper expounding on the philosophical virtues of life, death and the ocean, just to make the film more well-rounded. I'm assuming that's the purpose, and also that the contradiction between philosophy and gangster crime is supposed to be hilarious.

"Perrier's Bounty" could be a brilliant fusion of all genres into a gangster crime film. But it's missing some vital cohesiveness and substance to make this more than a weirdly funny, violent crime spree through an Irish night. Which isn't all that bad, but it's no "In Bruges".

PERRIER'S BOUNTY is YET another clichéd gangster movie in which everyone is ripping each other off and there are no nice characters in sight. RED EYE's Cillian Murphy plays a low-rent scumbag who owes money to a local gangster, played with familiar relish by Brendan Gleeson. Cue loads of chases, manic situations, pursuing hit men and even a little romance with shoehorned-in love interest Jodie Whittaker.

This could be just another London-set gangster drama in the same vein as many a Guy Ritchie movie, but the fact that it's Irish sets it apart a little from the crowd - but only a little. For the most part, it's highly predictable, and although the story is fairly fast-moving and interesting, unfortunately the script is a letdown. It really falls apart when it comes to the father/son bonding scenes with an out-of-place Jim Broadbent; these are indescribably boring and seem to go on forever.

However, fans of fantasy TV show GAME OF THRONES will be well served by the supporting cast; no less than four familiar faces from the programme appear here. There are minor parts for Francis Magee (Yoren) and Conleth Hill (Varys), and bigger, decent roles for Michael McElhatton (Roose Bolton) and Liam Cunningham (Ser Davos Seaworth). At least their presence was enough to keep me entertained for the majority of the running time...

Rented this on a recommendation from the video store owner, who like myself, is into just about every genre. We certainly don't shy away from foreign films, and this gangster/father-son story looked to be right up my alley.

Like I mentioned in the title - there is quite a bit of humor here that can be hard to pick up because of its' dry nature, and because of the thick accents. It can really make the difference between this being a completely average film, and this being a truly enjoyable, albeit lesser-known, humorous, and darkly adventurous tale.

The cast is strong and the story moves at a brisk pace. It's in the storyline vein of Tarantino or Ritchie, but lacks a bit of the panache of those directors' work.

Perrier's Bounty has good performances throughout, and there is little doubt that those fans of the afore mentioned directors will find this to be an exciting film. It's rated R for brief nudity, drug use, and violence.

The only stand-out negative would be the music. The music selections were great, but the volume of the music was WAY too loud compared to the dialog and the rest of the movie. Maybe the music director was a bit too proud of his/her selections. I had to turn the TV down every time a song came on, and then turn it back up when the dialog resumed. The only other negative would be a slightly rushed and under-developed love story that could have really put this over-the-top.

Recommended. THose who liked pulp fiction and lock stock will find this to be a good(not great) film along the same lines. LIsten carefully as many of the hilarious lines can pass you by. The strongest characteristic of this film is the relationship between Cillian Murphy and the actor(who's name escapes me as I'm writing this) who plays Cillian's father. Also, having two fantastic actors playing in the two lead Gangster roles helps immensely.

71/100

You'll like it if you liked: Layer Cake, State of Grace, or Harry Brown.

Perrier's Bounty is a gangster flick packed full of fantastic actors like Jim Broadbent . Brendan Gleeson and Cillian Murphy so why has nobody heard of it? I'm not totally sure why this passed everyone by when it was released in May because it's a pretty decent film. It has plenty of action , it full of humour and Broadbent and Gleeson are on top of their game. The only criticism i can really give it is that the story is uninspiring. It's as if the director got the best actors around yet forgot about the plot. It can be compared to the likes of Lock, Stock and two smoking Barrels but without the cutting edge. Despite this I'm sure most people will enjoy it , that's if anybody can get hold of it!

Apart from a very strong cast, this also has some very fine moments throughout. Like a french phrase that gets repeated. Offbeat things like that make this movie stand out from some other movies who try hard to be distinguishable. But in the end, there are quite a few things, that don't quite work in it's favor.

While the story as it is, is told pretty fast (so that you can't think too much about some logical errors/plot holes I guess), sometimes you'd want some time for the characters to breathe. Especially the things the female lead goes through in a short amount of time, are very improbable, not to mention her emotional journey, which is just a bit too rushed. Still lovable, but with an ending, that though planted, feels a bit off in a wrong way.