2008 Woodie Awards
Movie Picks
In Bruges & Charlie Barlett
Joe Mayers
Issue date: 3/6/08 Section: Lifestyle
Comedy is perhaps the most difficult genre to master. Attempted by many and failed by most, an audience's laughter is truly an artistic achievement for any filmmaker. The two movies we're taking a look at in this issue - the European hit-man comedy "In Bruges" and a schoolboy's offer at psychiatric drug pushing in "Charlie Bartlett" - provide both a stunning success and a common failure.
To start with, I will give "In Bruges" the Go See This Now! rating. The film understands what it is that makes any comical situation ten-times funnier: stark contrast. On the surface, as conveyed by its trailers, "In Bruges" appears to be simply another comedy taking a darkened and ever-so-comical look at crime, and particularly, paid murders as distributed by an aggravated over-weight veteran, Brendan Gleeson, and a young fast-speaking Irishman, played by Colin Farrell.
This movie has been made before. This movie has been over-done. This movie has been somewhat annoying since Guy Ritchie did it properly in "Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels." Luckily, "In Bruges" did is not this movie.
Beneath its rather clichéd surface, "In Bruges" offers a fair amount of real drama. The audience comes to discover that the hit committed prior to the time frame of the film went horribly awry. The mistakes made during the crime give the film its depth and its sense of confrontation. We are able to see Farrell pondering suicide, able to see Gleeson as a mentor and almost father-like figure.
It is this seriousness which allows the seamlessly interlaced comedy of the film to come off as that much more hilarious. Granted, there is a certain amount of hilarity possessed innately within overweight hit-men, fast-speaking Irishmen and bitter out-of-work midgets, but when placed within such a contrastingly dramatic plot, the laughs you so desire, or really anything to simply break the tension, flow like water in a stream.
Our second movie "Charlie Bartlett" was undeniably aware of the significance of comedic contrast; however, the premise disallowed the tactic's proper execution. Our title character, Charlie Bartlett, is a highly intelligent rich-kid struggling with the common high-school problem of being accepted and, more importantly, being popular as whoever he chooses to be.
To start with, I will give "In Bruges" the Go See This Now! rating. The film understands what it is that makes any comical situation ten-times funnier: stark contrast. On the surface, as conveyed by its trailers, "In Bruges" appears to be simply another comedy taking a darkened and ever-so-comical look at crime, and particularly, paid murders as distributed by an aggravated over-weight veteran, Brendan Gleeson, and a young fast-speaking Irishman, played by Colin Farrell.
This movie has been made before. This movie has been over-done. This movie has been somewhat annoying since Guy Ritchie did it properly in "Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels." Luckily, "In Bruges" did is not this movie.
Beneath its rather clichéd surface, "In Bruges" offers a fair amount of real drama. The audience comes to discover that the hit committed prior to the time frame of the film went horribly awry. The mistakes made during the crime give the film its depth and its sense of confrontation. We are able to see Farrell pondering suicide, able to see Gleeson as a mentor and almost father-like figure.
It is this seriousness which allows the seamlessly interlaced comedy of the film to come off as that much more hilarious. Granted, there is a certain amount of hilarity possessed innately within overweight hit-men, fast-speaking Irishmen and bitter out-of-work midgets, but when placed within such a contrastingly dramatic plot, the laughs you so desire, or really anything to simply break the tension, flow like water in a stream.
Our second movie "Charlie Bartlett" was undeniably aware of the significance of comedic contrast; however, the premise disallowed the tactic's proper execution. Our title character, Charlie Bartlett, is a highly intelligent rich-kid struggling with the common high-school problem of being accepted and, more importantly, being popular as whoever he chooses to be.
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