John's Movie Musings

Guy Ritchie has become famous for two movies: Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch. Both bring dry British humor to your basic mob movie. So what happens when you make a Guy Ritchie movie without Guy Ritchie? You get In Bruges.

The story is somewhat original. At least to me, anyway. You've got two hitmen laying low in Bruges after a botched job. Where's Bruges? It's not really a spoiler since any of you can Google the place, but if you don't know, it's a funny point in the movie so keep your Googlin' to a minimum.

The movie stars Colin Farrell and another guy you probably recognize from a bunch of other movies, but don't know his name. I guarantee you'll say, "Hey, that's that guy from Harry Potter, Braveheart, Beowulf, and a bunch of other stuff. But I can't remember his name." They're both great and have a surprising gift of comedic timing. Who knew Colin Farrell could be funny?

I enjoyed the characters so much that I'm really hoping another movie comes out. Maybe one showing them on a job rather than laying low. Their personalities conflict in ways that only work in British comedies, but watching these two on a hit would be a riot.

By the end, the director tries to piece things together to make a point, but mostly it comes off as a "I see what you did there" moment. It's not bad, but it's not as earth-shattering as the director maybe thought it was gonna be. Perhaps Guy Ritchie would have had better luck.

This movie isn't the best British movie you've seen, but it's worth a rental if you're in the mood.

Grade: B