Animals

'Animals (2019)' tells the unconventional coming-of-age of two party animals forced to face reality when one of them gets engaged. This strains their strong, ten-year-long friendship and causes both to question their lifestyles, in their own ways. The often-inebriated pair seem to sleepwalk through the day and come alive at night, taking copious amounts of drugs (both legal and not so legal), staying out all night and sleeping with strangers - all under the pretence of 'rallying against the system'. Grainger's writer's-block-ridden aspiring-novelist seems to purposefully seek a catalyst for change after realising a large portion of her life has passed her by, whereas Shawkat's no-aspirations barista seems to constantly lament the very concept. This push and pull forms the basis for film's dramatic underpinning, leading to a grounded and rather nuanced story of self-actualisation - or the struggle for it, at least. While it does conform to the conventions of its genre, it feels actually incredibly natural; in the moment, all sense of it being a movie falls away in favour of a far more realistic feel. This is, in large part, thanks to the imperfections of pretty much every core player. The two leads, especially, are presented not as 'likeable' but as 'honest', making them all the more empathetic. It all appears quite effortless but it's actually the result of a fantastic screenplay. Of course, this is brought to life by equally brilliant performances, assured direction and often-inspired cinematography. The movie starts off a little slow but it soon settles into its own pace and becomes extremely engaging. It weaves relatable themes into a plot peppered with situations of all differing sorts - whether they be funny, charming, saddening or frustrating - and a central relationship that's as compelling a pairing as we've seen all year. It's bold, vital and, most importantly, enjoyable. 7/10

Not a bad movie but films like this rely on the viewer caring about the main characters, I didn't. The first half with the pair of girls playing was fun but once the dull boys came into it the movie drags slowly into not very much.

Two young women, Laura and Tyler, share a close 10-year friendship of hedonistic, carefree times in Dublin with all the drink, drugs and casual encounters with boys that implies. Their friendship is one of those platonic almost-marriages - they share a bed as well as a flat and never leave each other's side. But life is beginning to intrude more and more into their happy world as they enter their 30s and cross that dreaded line into a new era where one's life is suddenly supposed to have meaning. Laura's sister Jean, a former fellow traveller on their wild adventures, is newly married, pregnant, sober and increasingly distasteful of her sister's apparent immaturity - and even more so of Tyler, a freewheeling partier who becomes increasingly despondent as she realises she is losing her friend.

But while all of this may sound thoroughly predictable, what Animals does well is to diverge from by-the-numbers plotting and not hem in its characters with cliche responses or obvious moral lessons. Laura is determined not to go quietly into a life of marriage and cohabitation with her new fiancé, Jim, or to leave behind her BFF despite the inevitable forces coming between them. And the film throws up little surprises that keep you on your toes and keep up the story's momentum.

Unfortunately, what's lacking is wit - it just isn't as entertaining in depicting banter as it aspires to be. While the dynamic of the two lead characters has been compared to Withnail and I, for legitimate reasons, that comparison brings obvious trouble with it - W&I was full of brilliantly funny scenes of nothing but two guys being drunk, high or horrifically hungover, a tricky thing that few imitators have pulled off well. There are large parts of this film (particularly the first half hour or so) that rely too much on the audience finding the characters and their antics hilarious. While the characters are likeable, they aren't much more entertaining than your real-life friends, even if they do quote Yeats more frequently.

Overall, though, it deserves credit for being a truthful and heartfelt depiction of enduring friendship and a break with the expected norms of both film storytelling and of polite society. If you find the dialogue a shred more entertaining than I did, you'll have a blast.

Heartwarming, funny and sad all at different times the film was a real blast for the majority although felt was around 20 minutes to long towards the end it did drag a little and the humour began to wear off. Overall still worth a watch and Holliday Grainger in particular was fantastic.

This film was supposed to be about the relationship between Laura and Tyler. It's a special friendship but there's dangerous side. Unfortunately the film wanders way off course and the last third of the film explores Laura cheating on her fiance. Is she doing this (subconciously) so she can stay with Tyler? Didn't come across that way. I think the screenwriter urgently needed to sit down and cut a lot out of the movie and focus on what it was really about. Basically we needed more Tyler.

We also urgently needed to see these characters at their day jobs. Laura says she's a waitress (I think). We needed to see her struggling through an awful hungover day. Or being fired for showing up late. We see them drinking through the week but there's not much flipside. There's no consequences.

Probably the most glaring oddity is the scene where Tyler (apparently) steals a jar of unspecified drugs (MDMA crystals? methamphetamine?). It's a truly hefty quantity presumably worth many thousands of euros. How did they get away with this? Why isn't there someone hunting for it?