Although gritty ensemble flicks are a dime a dozen these days, few have the vitality and peculiar charm of this fast-moving, wonderfully rowdy, terrifically entertaining collage of stories populated by members of contemporary Dublin's lower classes. Colin Farrell plays a petty crook who entices two neighborhood lads (Cillian Murphy and David Wilmot) into joining him in a bank robbery that indirectly involves a whole bunch of people, including the ex-girlfriend of one of the robbers (Kelly Macdonald), her new banker-lover (Michael McElhatton), her mother (Ger Ryan) and her man-hating sister (Shirley Henderson), as well as the banker's estranged wife (Deirdre O'Kane), and an ambitious cop (Colm Meaney) with his eye on both the crooks and a chance for television stardom. While this amount of accidental connection among the characters would sink a lesser movie, here the sharp writing by Mark O'Rowe, deft direction by John Crowley, brisk pacing, and stellar acting make the contrivances not only palatable but also fascinating and infectiously funny. Highly recommended. [Note: DVD extras include two deleted scenes (3 min. total) and trailers. Bottom line: in other words, the extras are shorter than an "intermission."] (F. Swietek)
Intermission
MGM, 105 min., R, VHS: $39.95, DVD: $26.98, Oct. 19 Volume 19, Issue 6
Intermission
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As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
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