A Film with Me in It

Ratings: 5 - Amazing 4 - Great 3 - Very good 2 - Good 1 - Fair 0 - Poor

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Characters: 2 Screenplay: 2 Cinematography: 2 Emotional: 1

Overall: 2.0

The film does a good job of walking the line between tasteful and tasteless of dark comedy. Nothing in this film makes sense or is logical, but it isn't supposed to; each ridiculous twist and turn can be amusing. To me, it was amusing and I had a few laughs, but they can be a little sparse. And in the end, it leaves you feeling a bit empty. While that may be the point of the film, it also feels a bit like a television episode that was dragged on. Overall, I found it a good experience.

The characters are stupid and illogical. Entertainment depends on whether or not one can get over this fact. At times I could laugh, but at times I was just dumbstruck. The actors also did a pretty good job of appearing similarly dumbstruck. Huberman, particularly, did quite well. Moran is his usual self.

Not only is it hard to develop any kind of connection with the characters, but they can induce hate. At times, I just can't turn off shoe-switching. "WHY, YOU FOOL!" I scream in my head, but they never seem to hear me. Sometimes inducing this kind of emotion is good, but they overdid it and it can definitely begin to shift to annoyance, ruining the suspension of disbelief.

The screenplay was absurd, in a good way, but could have flown better. The characters are introduced haphazardly and the buildup is very slow. Eventually I began wondering where the dead bodies were. The clear foreshadowing does create an interesting little "whose gonna get it" atmosphere, but they needed to anchor more of the script around it. If it was worked and teased a bit more, it would've been great. It got better as the bodies began piling up and the absurdities amounted.

The tone of the film started off teetering between funny and serious, so some parts left the viewer uncertain as to how to feel. The ending expunged on the humor created and is a hate it or love it thing.

The cinematography, on the other hand, was surprisingly aesthetic. With no flair, the angles and composition is well done for a low budget film.

While I was never really drawn into the film, I enjoyed the brief nonsensical departure from sane people.

Mark is rejected by one more movie project. Permanent looser Mark is living in a wrecked house which he can't pay for the rent for three months together with his brother in wheel chair. His life is falling apart with his failures at job and problems with his girl friend. Leading role in his friend's movie sounds for him like the solution to everything. The script of Pierce who is an impenitent alcoholic coincides whit what we are watching. We can't be sure if the movie they want to make at this specific day is what we are watching or they are inspired by this day for their movie. After such shrewd start, movie presents 90 minutes laughters to us.

Tragedies one after another don't change Mark's indifferent attitude to life even when he has lost almost everything. Mark's astonishment and Pierce's reactions are main objects of the movie represents British comedy manner. What is happening to them is too much absurd even for a movie according to a movie writer Pierce he says but they again find the solution in a scenario idea.

Everything is fabulously funny in this good sample of British comedy which resembles "Shaun of Dead" and "Hot Fuzz". A Film With Me In It, second movie of Ian Fitzgibbon has various critics like his first job but still it attracts attention in some Festivals include Irish Film and Television Academy (IFTA).

Actually with a title like that and after the first few minutes you will catch the drift. The question if you will like were this is going or not, will depend on how much you like "dark humor". If you have seen quite a few of those movies, than you might anticipate quite a few things that will happen.

Still it is done very good, many jokes are really exciting and the movie ends very well. One of the things that stuck out though, was the fact that this movie is Irish. Which means the guys playing this have a very unusual accent (for me and I'm sure for quite a few other guys), which also means, that I had some trouble getting every little thing that was said.

The (inevitable) American Remake will come surely, but before that, make sure to watch this original!

This requires a little suspension of disbelief. An appreciation of the deftness of the actors helps. If you have a little background in Beckett, there are some more resonances. Both Moran and Doherty know how to spin the story, lend credibility to the scenario. It is a tribute to their intelligence as actors that the premise engages you and holds your attention. Watching them is a delight as they portray their downbeat characters with warmth and affection. Their synergy and subtlety makes this a low-key delight. If action, cgi and high-octane blockbusters are your bag, stay away. Otherwise, enjoy the wittiness of this small scale gem and celebrate the fact that such pictures get into circulation at all in such cash-straightened times.

This black comedy is a story of Pierce (Dylan Moran) and Mark (Mark Doherty), two jobless Irish friends sharing a run down apartment with Mark's girlfriend Sally (Amy Huberman), and Mark's disabled brother David (David O'Doherty). The apartment is owned by a disgruntled Jack (Keith Allen). The movie suddenly takes a turn for the worse one day in their uneventful and eroding lives.

The movie really takes the very definitive yet subtle elements of black comedy and ties it together with very interesting plot twists. Although no comparison can be made, for the sake of a relative scale- A Film with Me in It is abreast with some of the blackest comedy works of the Coen Brothers (such as Burn After Reading, Barton Fink and The Man Who Wasn't There).

The movie tends to drag a little here and there, but makes up for it in the fine character development and cinematography. As the plot progresses, the viewer is often subtly taunted to question their understanding of the story so far.

I'm a fan of Dylan Moran's stand-up work, and he has lived up to my expectations of him on the screen as well. All in all, it's definitely a good watch.