Review: Intermission

Directed by John Crowley

IFC Films

Just in time for St. Patrick’s Day, Ireland has brought over Intermission, an impressive new dramedy featuring everyone’s favourite leprechaun, Colin Farrell. Opening the New York Film Festival on March 18, Intermission has all the pieces needed to replicate its European success. Irish native John Crowley handles the 11 interlinked stories and 54 characters so deftly in his directorial debut that the movie successfully delivers an almost unrelenting barrage of comedy, romance and excitement and earns comparisons to Robert Altman’s best work.

John, played by 28 Days Later survivor Cillian Murphy, is inarticulate, unsure of what he wants and desperately insecure. As a result, he decides to “test” his girlfriend Deirdre (Kelly Macdonald) by breaking up with her, an action that has consequences for everyone in their small Dublin suburb.

Simultaneous to the romantic drama, another local suburbanite, Lehiff, played by Farrell, is breaking the law yet again. And not in a jaywalking-esque fashion: Lehiff is the personification of scumbag, whose only thoughts are of one big robbery that, as always, will enable him to settle down for life.

Soon, Lehiff has targeted Sam, a middle-aged banker who recently left his wife to move in with a recently single younger girl. Needless to say, her name is Deirdre and John is very angry to learn that she failed her test. Lehiff offers him the chance to get even: help him rob Sam while holding Deirdre hostage. They enlist a third member for their gang, Mick, who has just been fired from bus-driving after a young boy threw a rock through his window, causing him to crash the bus.

Down, out and desperate for money and revenge, the trio try their plan. Unfortunately, Detective Jerry Lynch, played by well-known character actor Colm Meaney, has been tailing Lehiff all along. This is particularly problematic because Lynch is egotistical, aggressive and has a fondness for Celtic music. The robbery fails due to his intervention and the unexpected arrival of Sam’s ex-wife Noleen at the bank (explained by yet another of the 11 interlinked stories). Lehiff quickly turns on his accomplices and starts a high-speed chase with Jerry and a camera crew resulting in one dead sheep, one dead man and one traumatized T.V. producer.

Although the language is often colorful, it symbolizes the working-class ethos that sustains the interweaving narratives of this dense story. Crowley deepens the glimpse of the working class by opening an eye to the often overlooked quirky and ridiculous things of daily routine. Any movie that involves a wheelchair race in a pub, female ronnies (Irish slang for moustaches), brown sauce in tea, golden oldies discos and rabbit racing is sure to be a good show and Intermission is no exception.