One of those films that tries way too hard to be hip, cool, urban and funny. It achieves none of it. The script was poor, the dialogue very forced and the characters were overdone. The film goes nowhere and wastes a rather good cast. Very bland and not worth watching to be honest.

Perrier's Bounty is a quirky dark Irish crime comedy but it is also a misfire as you get a feeling of having seen it all before. It wants to be In Bruges, it even has Brendan Gleeson in it but is nowhere as good.Cillian Murphy plays a young waster Michael McCrea who is in debt of 1000 Euros to loan shark Perrier (Brendan Gleeson.) Michael's dying dad (Jim Broadbent) turns up to make his life awkward and his dizzy, suicidal in the neighbouring flat (Jodie Whittaker) accidentally kills one of Perrier's debt collectors.Now they all find themselves on the run from Perrier but maybe some other goons with vicious dogs might inadvertently come to Michael's rescue.Despite the wacky set up the characters are rather two dimensional even with the added eccentricities they are given.

Casting and the dynamic between characters can make a movie flop or fly. Perrier's Bounty is smart and funny, though not shatteringly original; many comparisons have been made with the dark and distinctly Irish humour of In Bruges. Inept and slightly rubbish protagonist finds himself, through a perfect demonstration of his ineptitude and rubbishness, pitted against roundly awful rotters and thugs, and beset from all sides by pain and inconvenience, while a funny script and a generous splash of eccentricity and heartwarming romance with a girl way out of our dopey hero's league keep you hoping for a happy ending, however undeserved. This is also, broadly, the setup of True Romance. People like to tell the same stories repeatedly, just like they like to read and watch them over and over again. Not because we expect it to turn out differently; just because we like how some stories feel.Here's Brendon Gleeson back again in an wholly different role to his In Bruges turn, joyous as as solidly horrible gangster Perrier; unkind to animals, worse to people. Cillian Murphy has said before he likes playing characters who are under pressure, and is, as ever, excellent as the ordinary, unlucky bloke by turns incredulous and incandescently cheesed off with the hand life keeps dealing him. And Jim Broadbent - in the wake of Peter O'Toole (may all the gods rest his venerable soul), does anyone mix matter-of-fact and completely barmy better?We know the core actors are great at what they do, and they carry the film along reliably.What's great about this movie is the detail, the gleaming dialogue, and the real story at the heart of this; the father and son, estranged and reunited in ludicrous circumstances, and the family ties slowly revealed to us. Broadbent and Murphy are perfect together, the exasperation of the son pitched brilliantly against the patience and downright bizarreness of the father. Hurrah also for the supporting turn from Brendan Coyle, who's always a joy to watch.Perrier's Bounty isn't a new tale; but it's lyrical, funny, dark, human and absolutely charming.

Running dry of ideas for DVDs from video rental, we happened upon this one. In general I like British comedies, and "Trainspotting" is one of my favorites. But some of them also fall flat for me. I will add "Perrier's Bounty" to that list of the latter.Brendan Gleeson is Darren Perrier, an Irish mobster who takes his loans very seriously. Cillian Murphy is Michael McCrea, who is a bit of a slacker and finds himself with just a few hours to get the cash to keep the goons off him. Perhaps the best character is old faithful Jim Broadbent as Jim McCrea, Michael's dad. As with most British and Irish movies of this sort, lots of 'blue' language is used, and is off-putting. But that is the genre. It was somewhat entertaining but mostly wasted time watching it.