In Dublin
Michael (Cillian Murphy) is a lazy good for nothing, but a lazy good for nothing who owes money to local gangster Perrier (Brendan Gleeson) and unless he repays the debt by the end of the day he will have two bones broken of his own choosing. After trying to find someone to loan him the money and running in to his father, Jim (Jim Broadbent), who says he is dying from cancer Michael ends up taking part in a burglary except he won't paid till the next day meaning he will need to lay low for the night. But things don't work out that way and he along with his dad and his neighbour Brenda (Jodie Whittaker) end up on the run.
"Perrier's Bounty" is one of those movies where we spend an eventful 48 hours with a small group of people where one problem leads to another, every character is a little over the top and some things miraculously end up connected. So basically it is a movie which relies heavily on the cast and the chaotic comedy to keep you entertained and for the most it does. Yet when it is over you will be asking yourself well what was the point and haven't I seen it all before as it ends up full of familiar ideas and comedy.
The thing about "Perrier's Bounty" is that it does toss a lot at us during the opening 30 minutes as one moment of chaos follows another. Michael annoys a couple of car clampers, they catch up with him and clamp his car at which point he is nearly killed by two heavies in a range rover which smashes into his clamped car and then when he runs and the clampers clamp the ranger rover the heavies knock them about with a baseball bat. It is chaos but after a while it can't keep up the frenetic pacing and for a while has to stop and slow down which in truth is not a bad thing but it does make it uneven.
But as I said "Perrier's Bounty" does rely on the casting and are central trio of Murphy, Broadbent and Whittaker are great as they bring to life their familiar characters with just the right amount of over the top. But then you have the supporting cast, actors such as Michael McElhatton and Ned Dennehy who you might not know their names but you will recognize their faces which adds something to the movie, another layer of comical familiarity.
What this all boils down to is that "Perrier's Bounty" and it will have you hooked with its opening 30 minutes of frenetic action and comedy. But once "Perrier's Bounty" is over you will have that feeling of well it was good but it could have been better.
