In Bruges - A Lot More To It Than You’d Think

Dianne again - where are you, Liz?  Anyway, I wanted to see In Bruges for two reasons: I like Collin Farrel and I’ve actually been to Bruges, Belgium. I thought it would be a light comedy, good for a Good Friday escape. Actually, it has a Good Friday scene in it, but I won’t tell you the details as it would give an awful lot away. And there is so much to give away - three-dimensional hit men played wonderfully by Brendan Gleeson and Collin Farrel, a really bad guy played superbly by Ralph Fiennes, a pretty girl thrown in for a love story not just a sex scene, and a midget who is an apologetic American. ”Please don’t hold it against me,” he says, and those of us who’ve traveled in Europe and elsewhere laugh out loud because we’ve seen the ugly Americans abroad (also portrayed in this movie) and we’ve also felt apologetic for our country’s current politics…

The plot itself, the reason the hit men are in Bruges, is much more substantial than the movie trailer would have you believe. Of course, if it told you that, then it would give away too much. Let’s just say it makes you care about the main characters and along with the laughs, makes you not just cry, a little, but gasp. So kudos to writer/director Martin McDonaghy. Is it just me or are all the good movies, writers, directors, and actors these days from foreign countries? 

I give In Bruges a High Five, but if you’re like the older couple who left early on because of the language, you might want to stay away, although it fit well with the characters and story and wasn’t just there to shock the audience or get an R rating.