In Bruges
Rent & Buy
Ray and Ken, two hit men, are in Bruges, Belgium, waiting for their next mission. While they are there they have time to think and discuss their previous assignment. When the mission is revealed to Ken, it is not what he expected.
What critics thought
McDonagh's debut feature earns genuine affection from most critics as a darkly comic thriller with an oddball soul, though a handful found its plotting too shaggy and contrived to fully deliver on its premise. Nearly everyone agrees that Farrell — long dismissed as a Hollywood misfire — is revelatory here, and that the Farrell-Gleeson pairing is the film's engine; the sharper disagreement is over whether the screenplay's tonal lurches between farce and violence add up to something coherent or just energetic.
“This film debut by the theater writer and director Martin McDonagh is an endlessly surprising, very dark, human comedy, with a plot that cannot be foreseen but only relished.”
Roger Ebert·Chicago Sun-Times
“Farrell, having successfully made the transition from overexposed-yet-underutilized action-thriller star to one-film-a-year artiste, gets a lot to work with, and he sells it all flawlessly, moving convincingly from offhanded, prickly asshole mode to nervous young lover to disintegrating martyr”
Tasha Robinson·The A.V. Club
“A jolly mess of a movie. Overplotted, choppy, and contrived, it nonetheless has a curious vitality that makes you wonder where McDonagh will go next.”
Dana Stevens·Slate
“with In Bruges, the British gangster movie gets a Croydon facelift. It may not be new, but it's a wonderfully fresh take on a familiar genre: fucked-up, far-out and very, very funny.”
Damon Wise·Empire
“Bruges may be the movie's rather too-long-running joke, but Farrell's shaggy brow is easily the most entertaining thing in Irish playwright Martin McDonagh's first foray into the crime caper.”
Ella Taylor·Village Voice
Accolades
Genres
Comedy, Crime, Drama
Cast & Crew
Martin McDonaghDirector
Colin FarrellRay
Brendan GleesonKen
Ralph FiennesHarry
Clémence PoésyChloë
Thekla ReutenMarie
Jordan PrenticeJimmy
Elizabeth BerringtonNatalie
Jérémie RenierEirik
Mark DonovanOverweight Man
Éric GodonYuri
Anna MadeleyDenise
Theo StevensonBoy in Church
Carter BurwellComposer
Eigil BryldCinematographyFrom the studio
In Bruges
Ray and Ken, two hit men, are in Bruges, Belgium, waiting for their next mission. While they are there they have time to think and discuss their previous assignment. When the mission is revealed to Ken, it is not what he expected.
What critics thought
McDonagh's debut feature earns genuine affection from most critics as a darkly comic thriller with an oddball soul, though a handful found its plotting too shaggy and contrived to fully deliver on its premise. Nearly everyone agrees that Farrell — long dismissed as a Hollywood misfire — is revelatory here, and that the Farrell-Gleeson pairing is the film's engine; the sharper disagreement is over whether the screenplay's tonal lurches between farce and violence add up to something coherent or just energetic.
“This film debut by the theater writer and director Martin McDonagh is an endlessly surprising, very dark, human comedy, with a plot that cannot be foreseen but only relished.”
Roger Ebert·Chicago Sun-Times
“Farrell, having successfully made the transition from overexposed-yet-underutilized action-thriller star to one-film-a-year artiste, gets a lot to work with, and he sells it all flawlessly, moving convincingly from offhanded, prickly asshole mode to nervous young lover to disintegrating martyr”
Tasha Robinson·The A.V. Club
“A jolly mess of a movie. Overplotted, choppy, and contrived, it nonetheless has a curious vitality that makes you wonder where McDonagh will go next.”
Dana Stevens·Slate
“with In Bruges, the British gangster movie gets a Croydon facelift. It may not be new, but it's a wonderfully fresh take on a familiar genre: fucked-up, far-out and very, very funny.”
Damon Wise·Empire
“Bruges may be the movie's rather too-long-running joke, but Farrell's shaggy brow is easily the most entertaining thing in Irish playwright Martin McDonagh's first foray into the crime caper.”
Ella Taylor·Village Voice
Accolades
Genres
Comedy, Crime, Drama
Cast & Crew
Martin McDonaghDirectorColin FarrellRayBrendan GleesonKenRalph FiennesHarryClémence PoésyChloëThekla ReutenMarieJordan PrenticeJimmyElizabeth BerringtonNatalieJérémie RenierEirikMark DonovanOverweight ManÉric GodonYuriAnna MadeleyDeniseTheo StevensonBoy in ChurchCarter BurwellComposerEigil BryldCinematographyFrom the studio
Rent & Buy