25 lines
3.1 KiB
Plaintext
25 lines
3.1 KiB
Plaintext
if chris farley had strapped some fake mutton-chop sideburns to each side of his head , spoken with a thick irish accent , and tried his damnedest to play it straight , he wouldn't have been nearly as funny as brendan gleeson in " i went down . "
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gleeson , who's not dissimilar to the late " saturday night live " alumnus in terms of physical attributes , plays a character named bunny kelly in this delightful irish film .
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bunny is sent to county cork to " retrieve " one frank grogan for an irish gangster called tom french ( well dressed like all good gangsters should be and menacingly portrayed by tony doyle ) .
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bunny is to accompany git hynes ( peter mcdonald ) , recently released from prison and obligated to tom for disfiguring one of his cronies .
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that tom french is a mean bollocks .
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he wants frank back .
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and a small matter of some ? 25 , 000 that tom's wife was supposed to have given to frank .
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for this he won't break anyone's thumbs .
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maybe .
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inventively and engagingly written by conor mcpherson and directed by paddy breathnach , " i went down " follows the trials and tribulations of git and bunny as they knock around peat bogs , dimly-lit pubs , and seedy hostelries trying to stay alive and out of trouble .
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mcdonald is a newcomer and a promising one at that , but gleeson has been in over a dozen movies , most recently as father bubbles in another film with a very irish accent on hilarity , " the butcher boy . "
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even if you can't comprehend half of what they're saying , gleeson and mcdonald together make " i went down " a trip worth taking .
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the film is in many ways reminiscent of another " little " independent feature , 1991's " highway 61 . "
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that film , too , was a road movie and it shares the same kind of wry dialogue and humorous situations as mcpherson's tale : whimsical observations on life , carefully-crafted vignettes , deadpan conversational asides , and scenes that'll make you laugh out loud .
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witness the episode in which our good-natured protagonists bind frank ( played by peter caffrey ) to a hotel bed , leaving him with only the tv remote for company .
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that sequence alone is on a par with satan locking himself out of his car in " highway 61 . "
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what's also charming about " i went down " is how the relationship between buddy and git develops .
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their trip becomes an education for both of them , but the way it's handled is neither sappy nor labored .
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the only thing in the film which approaches clunkiness is the culminating explanation , via flashbacks , of the relationship between frank and tom .
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it's a little too hollywood , and what makes " i went down " so refreshing is the fact that it rarely panders to traditional conventions of hollywood gangster movies .
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sure it's gritty--make that grubby--but it's also pretty goofy .
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although " i went down " emphasizes the comedic elements of dis-organized crime , there are a couple of fairly brutal scenes in keeping with the subject matter .
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don't let these deter you , though ; " i went down " is a little gem .
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it's only playing at one philadelphia-area theater--and i suspect it won't be there for long--so catch it while you can .
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