Barney Thomson, awkward, diffident, Glasgow barber, lives a life of desperate mediocrity and his uninteresting life is about to go from 0 to 60 in five seconds, as he enters the grotesque and comically absurd world of the serial killer.
Merrily gruesome black comedy.
Some fun performances, but that’s about it.
Ray Winstone stars in Robert Carlyle’s capable directorial debut that has some smart touches and a scene-stealing Emma Thompson.
By far its most vivid presence, Thompson steals the movie.
Carlyle has worked with enough great directors to know how to frame his home city in stylish and unconventional ways, but in terms of the plot, tone and performances, whatever he’s going for doesn’t translate into the macabre laughs its jokily violent premise demands.
Robert Carlyle’s directorial debut fails to hit the funny bone, with only Emma Thompson’s foul-mouthed matriarch supplying the laughs.
General release. Check local listings for show times.