Armand it is a not soft exercise of honesty. smart script, great cast and a lot of events. dark humor and a classic story about basic values and their price. more than cynical picture of characters lives, it is a bitter story who remember the best pages of American literature. because the frustrations, the desires, the search of happiness, the horrible job and the taste of freedom are sides of same need of sense. and the science to transform all in a seductive labyrinth, who remember many others, to impose not a fantastic end but the normal solution with its delicate flavor of perfect circle are virtues of a movie who remains a challenge or, maybe, an experience. if it is an experience, the whole guilt is result of extraordinary cast job.

Chrysanthepop Director John Crowley and writer Mark O'Rowe create a fascinating and hilarious black comedy farce. 'Intermission', what an interesting name for a film. The title itself caught my attention. It's set in a small Irish town and focuses on its working class characters. Overlapping stories aren't anything new in film but here it is done exceptionally well. As the story builds, the connection between each character is gradually (and subtly) revealed and it feels very natural. Despite a few characters that border on being criminally insane, most of the characters are the common man and woman from various walks of life, people you see everyday who want love and respect.'Intermission' is full of energy. The action sequences are shot wonderfully, especially the final chase sequence. The writing is just solid and it has a wicked sense of humour that works excellently. Dialogues are witty and very funny. The score is quite unique.Of the cast, Colin Farrell, Kelly MacDonald, Cillian Murphy, Colm Meaney and Brían F. O'Byrne are already well known internationally. They perform naturally and do nothing short of a superb job as do their costars Shirley Henderson and Ger Ryan.'Intermission's already become a favourite. I would easily recommend it to anyone (especially those who love black comedy) who's interested in witnessing a different kind of slice of life with an extra dose of adrenaline.

johnnyboyz It would seem even the Irish are getting in on the act of coming up with their own 'Pulp Fiction'. Is it too naive to underpin Pulp Fiction as the one film from the last dozen or so years that has had the most influence on the crime genre as a whole? The British, through Guy Ritchie, made Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels; I frequently hear Run Lola Run toted as Germany's answer to the quick witted, postmodernist roller coaster of ever-entwining story equilibriums and from South America; City of God in its equally brutal, intriguing but humbling glory. Is Intermission a particularly great film? Not at all. But does it lead you down a relatively enjoyable crime-fuelled road of quick wit; young and criminal minded people getting into all sorts of mischief and general disposable pleasure? I would say so.The real occasions during which Intermission goes off on one and doesn't generally work is when it delves into humour that revolves around either sex or relationships. One such strand to the film sees a character named John, played by Cillian Murphy, getting over his break up with a girl. If I list the events that follow this then you'll read that later on, the characters will visit a nightclub full of middle aged women in an attempt to 'meet' one of them and at other times we will witness others pleasuring themselves to pornography. These are the overall failings of the film; a segment that tries to make sex or themes of a sexual nature 'quite funny' and it just fails for anyone not familiar with the dry and tasteless humour usually found in a tabloid newspaper.But when Intermission isn't dealing with John and his buddy, it focuses on a couple of other colourful characters in and around Dublin. Ben (O'Suilleabhain) is an ambitious TV director-come-journalist looking for a genuine story in order to break into the industry; while Colin Farrell is a young and charming thief named Lehiff whose introduction acts as the film's opening scene and perfectly sets up the smash-and-grab, juxtaposed content, wannabe thrill ride the film is overall. Additionaly, Colm Meaney plays policeman Jerry Lynch who's always got his eye on things and has run ins with mostly everyone as he keeps the peace.In truth, the film is a little empty headed and doesn't provide the necessary wit nor the grimy look Lock, Stock did; nor does it shock us or act as a frightening yet enlightening look into a foreign culture as seen in City of God. The film flicks between being a heavy duty crime film in which women are beaten and their places of business are robbed whilst hard bodied crime genre caricatures have heated confrontations but maintains a light hearted (sometimes light headed) and jovial atmosphere, allowing all the steam out when you wish it wouldn't The film also sees a spectacular bus crash pretty early on, on which Sally (Henderson) feels the effects of low self esteem through constant accusation she has a slight tash above her mouth. There is a certain amount of jealousy reserved for her sister Deirdre (Macdonald), who's linked to John from earlier having just broken up with him. In addition to this, Sam (McElhatton) is a middle aged man who abruptly leaves his wife. There's a lot going on in Intermission, or at least it sounds like there is. The entire film is crammed down into just over an hour and a half, with a fair balance given to each character as their desperate situations play out and they engage with one another. This isn't a love/hate film; it's not a sprawling film about questioning one's role in life and society as everything else seems to fall apart around you alá Magnolia. Intermission knows its place. It's a grubby and grimy little pulp magazine that bites off more than it can chew; doesn't really make a study out of any of it, but chews to the best of its ability and downs it all without a fuss.The trouble is, with so much of this going on and all of it to cram in, the scenes in which you really feel immersed in the experience don't last that long. Certain things happen and one thing leads to another before a group of characters are holding a hostage as someone else must rob a place of business. Other times, I wanted to see more of Farrell's character. Instead, the film has to rely on young kids of about ten years old swearing to get across whatever few laughs there should be. The film feels it has the right to dip into ideas of divorce; sisterhood bonding; break ups and loneliness but then invites us to laugh at a middle aged woman attempting rough sex with someone they've just met and it's just disjointed. While the film is nothing special, it is disposable nonsense that proves Pulp Fiction's influence on a crop of film-makers more than anything. For people wanting something a little more mature, look elsewhere.

timoth93 this movie is pretty weird, think love actually but Irish and a lot less safe with absurd characters. don't be turned off by that comment because you don't like love actually, i myself very much disliked it but found this movie really good. I'm just comparing the two due to the formula of having several interconnecting stories and how each character has a sort of conclusion to them. each character in this movie faces their own problems and seeks something, yet whether or not they find it is a different story.i'm a fan of colin farrell and will admit that it was disappointing to see that he didn't have much screen time. however he does steal the show for most of his scenes. cillian murphy is the lead and he is a pretty good character though he is completely normal compared to colin farrell. but still fitting to the movie as most audiences require a fairly relateable character. what i liked about the colin farrell character was that he was completely un like able. no spoilers here but the opening scene in the movie was just gold. colm meaney was great as always, playing a violent policeman who has it in for colin farrell's character. and i was quite impressed by the character of Oscar, i'm unsure of the actor (i assume he is fairly unknown) who is an unconfident young man who wants a relationship.this movie does have a few moments that i didn't particularly like, such as sally who would be a reasonably attractive girl, but seeing her 'ronnie' is disturbing. but of course things come through in the end so all previous critisisms aside.this movie would be a 7 but due to the end credits song 'i fought the law and the law won' (performed by Colin Farrell) it's worthy of an 8. see this movie if you are looking for something different.