Popular reviews

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  Review by Stephen M ★★★½ 7

  An enjoyable Irish crime comedy about an unlikely duo conscripted by a crime boss to retrieve a rival hoodlum to settle a score. Heavier on the talk than on the action, the humor's more good-natured than satirical and very Irish. A spontaneous choice for me, and glad I caught it.

  A lot of the charm's in the interplay between the two leads. Peter McDonald plays Git, a shy young man fresh out prison but largely unfamiliar with gangster culture. He matched by the more experienced but clumsy Bunny Kelly, played by the great character actor Brendan Gleason (In Bruges and currently in The Banshees of Inisherin). There's a definite buddy movie/road movie element. They move from each tolerating the other…

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  Review by Mark Cunliffe 🇵🇸 ★★★★

  "What kind of horrible ugly desperate bitch is he gonna end up with? He'd be lucky if some Arab let's him finger his dog's arse for a fiver"

  After watching the utterly shit Pixie a few days back I vowed to revisit I Went Down, arguably the film that started the whole blackly comic crime tradition of Irish cinema.

  Honestly, Tarantino trunk shots aside, this is a really original film. I don't think anyone had attempted this kind of peppy, dark underworld genre in Ireland before this. I cannot overestimate how radical and unique this was when it arrived in 1997.

  Basically, I Went Down walked so that In Bruges could run.

  And that's kind of its problem. So many…

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  Review by 🇵🇱 Steve G 🐝 ★★★½

  The World Is More Than Enough 4: Thriller Night!

  8/30 - Ireland

  I remember seeing and reading quite a lot about I Went Down around about the late 1990s, mostly through Empire magazine, who talked it up as something that was quite special but likely to be seen by nobody.

  Fast forward nearly 20 years. Almost nobody has heard of it, it's quite difficult to track down, and it barely registers a footnote in the great career of Brendan Gleeson. See, Empire did used to be right and good once upon a time.

  The fact that, since then, quite a lot of other Irish crime comedies have come along, with the best ones also usually starring Gleeson, that have perhaps…

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  Review by realbhlhudson ★★★★

  Shane Black mixed with Guy Ritchie vibes, surprisingly great

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  Review by mattstechel ★★★★

  Its kind of a lighthearted Irish version of Miller's Crossing--with Brendan Gleeson as once again an uncouth loud guy who finds himself paired up with a more uptight straight arrow and the two of them bond while sent on a mission by a gangster that they're both owe a debt to. Its a really really really enjoyable tale and its streaming on Amazon Prime which is really nice considering the thing never made it to DVD even tho it really should have!

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  Review by Ronan Doyle ★★★½

  Terrifically enjoyable Irish genre-bender with one of Brendan Gleeson's funniest performances. There aren't so many things you can rely on the Emerald Isle for cinematically, but one of them is comedy, and boy oh boy is I Went Down a prime example. Hilarity abounds in every moment, these characters like the incompetent counterparts of those of Pulp Fiction. Conor McPherson's script is a work of genius, crammed with gags and the requisite touch of drama and character depth to make it a real success. What's far better than I expected is Paddy Breathnach's direction, which takes some beautiful locations and lends them the benefit of a wide lens, infusing the film with a naturalistic prettiness to balance the ugliness of these characters' actions. Marvellous.

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  Review by Ruairi Walsh ★★★½

  "well i'm professor f. fuckin' kelly and i'm here to give ya a lesson on gunshot wounds to the face, ya sneaky little fuckin' in the bath fella.

  now get up and put yer clothes on, ya tubby little no-dick, lying little fucker!"

  this brendan gleeson fellow is going places

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  Review by AkabaneRowsdowe ★★★½

  BEFORE THE DARK COMES TO SEE OUT THE DAY

  My hands only warm when it’s done
  My doubts having doubled, my race having run
  End of the night
  Try to make things alright
  Before the dark comes to see out the day

  His fist sets the door like a drum
  Lengthens the journey when he says where he’s from
  Briefly, it showed
  Keep your eyes on the road
  Before the dark comes to see out the day

  He said my nose would look better when broke
  My sanity's mixed by the words that he spoke
  Heavy his voice
  As he waits for my choice
  Before the dark comes to see out the day

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  Review by hellokintu ★★★

  Hopefully we get more Brendan Gleeson leads some time soon.

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  Review by I D Lamont ★★★

  The buddy crime caper seems a bit weird in Ireland. TBH not much happens, or is hugely interesting but:
  1. Brendan Gleeson is hilarious, spectacularly good in this - extra star
  2. “Two Characters In Search Of A Country Song” by Magnetic Fields in the background early on, great song - extra half star
  3. The girl in the club the lead hooks up with has the most 1997 hair cut of them all. It’s so distinctively shit I can’t believe it didn’t get a revival.

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  Review by Kane Geary O' Keeffe ★★★★

  Turns out Mad Eye Moody was a F R E A K Y boy in prison

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  Review by loureviews ★★★

  Only the Irish could produce a gangster comedy like this one. This film succeeds in its humour thanks to Brendan Gleeson and Peter McDonald, the late Tony Doyle, Peter Caffrey, and the rest of an accomplished and tongue-in-cheek cast.

  It might be a one-joke film, or at last building up to one, but it is fun making the journey there.