Rent Perrier's Bounty (2009)

Woefully unfunny stagey UK-Irish coproduction thriller set in Dublin with a wasted great cast - Perrier's Bounty review by PV

Hmmm this is a real mess of a film, maybe from a novel not sure. Seems to have some Irish loyalty inn the 4 star reviews maybe.

It falls between 2 stools - sometimes it tries to be a comedy, but is lame and very cartoon character caper, like Scooby Do in parts, just silly scenes, utterly unbelievable. At other times it is a violent revenge thriller.

The voiceover supposed twist is not clever, it is pathetic - voiceovers are often a sign of desperation to clarify a confusing film.

Great cast. No idea what they are doing in this dross which I note is state-funded by Irish govt and FilmFour (a UK-Irish coproduction) But maybe should have been a cartoon.

1. 5 stars rounded up.

Funny enough for a Friday night, violent enough for Saturday. A fun and entirely underated movie. - Perrier's Bounty review by CP Customer

Irish comedy, charming without being too stereotypical. Great performance from Cillian Murphy as Michael McCrea the unfortunate, slightly misanthropic loser who gets himself in deeper than he expected with Perrier the gangster. Jim Broadbent, as ever, steals the show with an excellent comic-yet-straight performance as Michael's (Cillian Murphy) father - along with the expected comedy he gives a poigniancy and seriousness to the role that is rarely seen in this sort of movie. The pace of the film is fast enough to keep you interested but not too much that it is stressful. The violence is brutal, but not unnecessarily so and well-placed humour brings enough relief until the next onslaught. There is a steady theme of death and a nice (albeit slightly semi-skimmed) ending but enough of a twist to be worthwhile. The semi-skimmed nature of the film is the only let down - Perrier's Bounty isn't a low-fat comedy film or a full-fat action movie, on occasion it can't make its mind up and so stumbles a little. Definitely worth a rental, I'd watch it again but I think the comedy plays to my slightly twisted sense of humour - an excellent movie after a couple of drinks.

A waste - Perrier's Bounty review by MK

A disappointing film in so many ways. I have been a fan of Brendan Gleeson for ages and was looking forward to seeing him play opposite Cillian Murphy. The film tried to capture the feel of other Dublin gangster movies with the overly verbose language and the casual approach to violence, mixed in with a charming sense of humour. Unfortunately it failed miserably on each count. Cliché after cliché filled my screen. The worst bit of all though was Jim Broadbent’s woeful attempt at an Irish accent. As a Dubliner myself, it had me cringing every time he spoke. It would have been better to let him use his normal accent and give "Michael" and English father.

A wasted cast and a missed opportunity.