What the papers are saying...

 Sunday Tribune
5 STARS
In Bruges is a stunning debut - Beckett meets the Coen Brothers in a darkly humorous guilt-charged hitchcockian suspense thriller that makes a medieval Belgian city the setting for a surreal eerily redemptive shootout. Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson are brilliantly paired as odd couple gunmen - hired by a deliciously vengeful Ralph Fiennes - whose viciousness is fatally flawed by vestiges of humanity.  Terrific cast with each sharply observed supporting character - a dwarf, a couple of prostitutes, rude tourists - a crucial cog in the grand guignol denouement

The Dubliner
5 stars
Imagine an Irish Odd Couple, with guns, on acid. In Belgium. It does not sound like a particularly promising mixture, and indeed Martin McDonagh’s debut feature is not faultless. It’s not quite as funny as it thinks it is, the pace is slow – particularly in the first half hour – and the obvious determination to confound our expectations at every turn is sometimes a little wearying. Despite all that, In Bruges is the most absorbing and likable Irish film of the new century. It will be warmly received at the Sundance Film Festival, where it opens proceedings next week, and it largely confirms the promise shown by McDonagh in his Oscar-winning short, Six-Shooter.

This new movie is a caper about two hitmen who are sent to the small, ostensibly rather dull Belgian city in order to lay low after a botched job. Brendan Gleeson excels as Ken, a ponderous professional killer with an admiration for medieval architecture, while Colin Farrell’s performance as a not-entirely-witless savage, Ray, plays on his key strengths as an actor: rugged good looks, an innate impudence and a range that encompasses the sinister and the farcical, often in the same scene. One gets no real sense of the relationship the two characters had before the film begins, but it quickly becomes obvious that Gleeson now fancies himself as a mentor to his young colleague, who, we discover, has cause for regret. His hard-man exterior masks real pain.

McDonagh clearly revels in juxtaposition, and in Bruges he has found a winsome backdrop for a film that is sometimes hysterical and occasionally very violent. One almost expects to see the city credited as one of the stars, so aggressively is its placid/ornate beauty mined for laughs/poignancy. And while it’s unlikely that McDonagh will relish this comparison – he is aiming, one suspects, for mention of Godot, the original existential road movie set in one location – the result might be described as Roddy Doyle meets Alfred Hitchcock via Quentin Tarantino. So there is plenty of bad language, one or two withering put downs and a tension throughout between the mundane and the provocative. But there is also real suspense.

At the heart of the film are two enormously generous performances by Farrell and Gleeson, who engage in a sort of scene-stealing battle by stealth. With the exception of a few early scenes in which Farrell rather overdoes his character’s contempt for prissy old things like canals, paintings and beautiful buildings, both actors excel, and their dedication – to the relationship, to the script, to the movie – is total.

The writing, of course, is the thing. We care about the fate of these two thugs, and in doing so we confound our own expectations. We laugh with them, not at them, and ultimately we cry with them. That a movie is capable of exerting such a hold on us explains why a profoundly talented playwright like McDonagh should insist on making the transition. In this, his very first feature, he plays with genres with a confidence that is breathtaking. The last time I saw a comedy that kept me on the edge of my seat was in X, when Midnight Run came out. I have never seen a movie that is self-consciously Irish yet doesn’t feel obliged to make ponderous conclusions about the state of the nation. It is also the first time that I have seen Farrell display his full range. It’s his best performance since Tigerland.

In a supporting cast that includes Jordan Prentice as a “fucking midget,” – a concession to younger audiences that is offensive, certainly, but crucially not that funny – one must mention Ralph Fiennes. Playing a mobster from the East End of London, he clearly relishes the part, and there is a scene – we don’t even see his face – in which he ponders the beauty of Bruges that is as funny and as frightening as anything in Pulp Fiction.

Sunday World
Five Stars
A killer comedy…relentlessly funny and truly original

Hotpress
4 stars
Dark, twisted and extremely funny…it’s your national duty to fork over the admission price. You will not be disappointed.

Sunday Business Post
Four Stars
Clever, twisted, funny and fierce, In Bruges is a trip.

The Irish Star
Four Stars
Black comedy at it's twisted best…hilarious, tragic, and totally unique

Entertainment.ie
4 stars
After his debut hit goes badly, suicidal Ray (Farrell) and culture-loving Ken (Gleeson) are sent to Bruges by their quick-tempered boss Harry (Fiennes) to chill out and wait until the hubbub blows over. However, Harry wants Ray and Ken in Bruges for a reason - a reason that only becomes clear when it's too late. The trailer (and the poster) is a little misleading - the comic tone doesn't warn the viewer of the depths of darkness the film descends to. That darkness, however, comes with a little implausibility but by that stage, you're on board and are able to accept what's dealt. In Bruges is a darkly comic continent crime caper and all the boxes are ticked with a few surprises - the pockets of violence happen unexpectedly, which is tough to pull off, considering the genre. The leads do the job asked of them, even though Farrell's comic delivery is lacking at times and Gleeson nudges ahead with the best performance. They are almost eclipsed by Fiennes, however, who does his best Michael-Caine-meets-Ben-Kingsley's-Don-Logan and all the laughs he jumps for land on two feet. In Bruges, despite Ray's repeated 'it's a shit hole' will do wonders for the city's tourist board - Bruges looks fantastic with its medieval buildings and canals; even Fiennes' Harry insists that "It's like a fairytale," and he's not wrong, while cinematographer Eigil Bryld (The King, Becoming Jane) probably couldn't believe his luck - he could just turn on the camera and point it in any direction. Martin McDonagh delivers a more-than-promising debut and could very well be a big name for the future.