From Bruges to Vegas
The year's funniest films speed to DVD
By Andy Klein 06/05/2008
In Bruges
Starring: Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Ralph Fiennes, Clémence Poésy, Jordan Prentice and Jérémie Rénier. Directed by Martin McDonagh. Universal Studios Home Entertainment.
The Grand
Starring: Woody Harrelson, Cheryl Hines, David Cross, Ray Romano, Dennis Farina, Richard Kind, Chris Parnell, Werner Herzog, Gabe Kaplan, Michael Karnow and Michael McKean. Directed by Zak Penn. Anchor Bay Entertainment.
Almost halfway into the year, and four months after its release, my favorite film of 2008 remains In Bruges (being released next week on DVD), Irish playwright Martin McDonagh’s first feature. Colin Farrell stars as London-based hitman Ray, who has just botched a job. His boss (Ralph Fiennes) sends him and partner Ken (Brendan Gleeson) to hide out in Bruges, a picturesque, historically preserved Belgian coastal town. The older and wiser Ken finds the place beautiful, but to Ray it’s completely boring — at least until he meets a beautiful local (Clémence Poésy), who appears to be working on a nearby movie set.
In Bruges is a bit like an Irish-accented version of the Travolta/ Jackson sections of Pulp Fiction, though McDonagh’s comic timing is somewhat different from Tarantino’s. None of the leads is particularly known for comedy; Farrell, in particular, is a revelation.
Whether In Bruges is entirely a comedy is another issue. It’s absolutely hilarious, but it is a film in which multiple likeable characters are brutally killed, and in a more realistic tone than most gangster comedies.
The DVD extras are modest but enjoyable. We get roughly a dozen deleted or extended scenes, ranging in length from 30 seconds to three minutes. They’re not bad, but it’s easy to see why they were trimmed; most don’t advance the plot or have big laughs of their own. The one major effect they have is to make Fiennes’ nasty character more sympathetic.
The disc also has a six-minute “Gag Reel” — muffed outtakes, more often than not messed up by Farrell being unable to keep a straight face. “When in Bruges” is a standard 14-minute making-of promotional thing, with a breezy tone. (The jovial Gleeson captures much of the film’s tone when he describes one brutal death scene as “beautiful ... in a really disgusting way.”)
The cast and crew speak specifically about the locale in a second short, amusingly titled “Strange Bruges.” Finally, we get six minutes of “A Boat Trip Around Bruges,” gliding through the city’s canals, while an unobtrusive tickertape scroll gives us some sketchy historical background.
McDonagh and the cast are all quite engaging throughout, so it’s a shame there isn’t any commentary track. Saving it for a later Special Edition, perhaps?
Another one of the year’s funniest films to date is Zak Penn’s The Grand — an improvisational comedy in the Christopher Guest mode about a high-stakes poker tournament in Las Vegas.
Penn assembled a wonderful cast that includes improv vets (Richard Kind), sitcom stars (Ray Romano), movie stars (Woody Harrelson), character actors (Dennis Farina, Barry Corbin), a revered German director (Werner Herzog), real-life poker players (Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth), a fuzzy rabbit (Munchkin), an emissary from the Christopher Guest troupe (Michael McKean), and the long missing-in-action Gabe Kaplan.
The DVD — due out this week — is heavy on commentary. Several of the eight, generally funny, deleted scenes (about 14 minutes worth) have optional commentary by Penn and others.
More deleted footage shows up in “Wild Cards,” eight brief “profiles” of the major players in the tournament.
Penn, co-writer/producer Matt Bierman and actor Michael Karnow do a wall-to-wall commentary track for the film itself; and, elsewhere on the disc, Penn is joined by Harrelson, Hines and Romano for separate commentaries on selected scenes. Everyone has good moments, but the wall-to-wall commentary is the funniest.
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