Current release: IN BRUGES

Two Irish leads (Brendan Gleason and Colin Farrell) in a film by an Irish filmmaker (Martin McDonough) - that alone puts this into the Irish cinema category for me, so off I went to see it. It was also the big gala screening at the Dublin film festival this year but like so many other films I wanted to see it didn't fit with my schedule.

Gleason and Farrell play two assassins who are ordered by their boss to lay low (in Bruges, funnily enough) after a hit goes horribly wrong. Gleason loves the place and enjoys taking in the sights; Farrell hates it and wants to get drunk or go home. Hijinks ensue.

Brutal violence rubs shoulders with laugh-out-loud humour; politically incorrect dialogue (mostly from Farrell's character) is peppered throughout with sweet-natured romance and humanity; high-octane shoot-outs fill in the gaps between lengthy dialogue scenes (the writer-director showing why he has a background as a playwright - much of the dialogue is brilliant). It's a mix of tones that all come together into an immensely satisfying whole.

The cast are near perfect (the so often miscast Farrell finally gets another role that suits him), the dialogue sparkles ("Two manky hookers and a racist dwarf!") and the scenic backdrop is used to maximum effect, combined with some pleasingly laid back music.

The film seems to occupy some off-kilter middle ground between LETHAL WEAPON-style action film and melancholic arthouse movie. It's really not the sort of thing you find in your local Odeon very often but is very, very good and you should see it while it's still on.