Intermission Review
Arriving a good five to ten years past the zeitgeist, John_Crowley's grungy debut feature manages to offer a smattering of choice performances from some of Ireland's most talented young actors, even if it fails to add anything to the post-Pulp_Fiction, post-Trainspotting indie landscape. Treading the middle ground between the sickly sweet ensemble romance Playing by Heart and the heist-for-heist's-sake films of Guy_Ritchie, Intermission is shot and edited with such economy, it might give viewers the false impression that it's actually about something. Despite a vague plea for the redemptive power of love over the pitfalls of avarice, it isn't. Instead, Crowley's film offers a handful of usually underappreciated actors the chance to try out quirky personas the way one might sort through thrift-store overcoats: there's the innately sweet Cillian_Murphy's befuddled-romantic, John; the reliably brilliant Shirley_Henderson, almost managing to overcome her underwritten part as mustachioed misfit Sally; and the particularly propulsive Colin_Farrell, making the most of his time away from the corrupting Southern California sun as gloss-free street punk Lehiff. Set to the beat of a schizophrenic pop/rock soundtrack, Intermission's cornucopia of suburban amorality may not add up to much, but the performers make certain that it's never less than watchable. Michael Hastings, Rovi
Browse More Movies:
