In Bruges (2008) - An unusual experience with extreme pleasure and radical boredom - 7/10 (11/06/12)

"In Bruges" is a rather unusual genre mix with many funny moments but also a couple of lengths and a more or less convincing story line. The movie mixes many comedy elements with romantic bits and pieces, a suspenseful background story, some cultural elements and a little bit of action.

Sometimes, this mix gets a little bit odd. At some points, this movie is more like a tourist guide through Bruges and therefor a weird kind of documentary rather than a film with a coherent development.

But the true problem lies elsewhere. The characters are so diversified that they simply aren't authentic anymore in my humble opinion. The funny guy in love suddenly is the calm and suicidal victim. The pitiless and very emotional boss suddenly becomes the consequent killer that discusses about the morality of life and death. The old and very rational killer is suddenly let by strong emotions and risks his whole existence. The sadly inevitable love story of this flick is also overused and not authentic at all.

Next to these complex and strange characters, there are many stereotypical persons that appear in this movie that might make you laugh at first sight but that get quite redundant after a while, for example the dwarf or the gunrunner. This contrast is what makes this movie quite entertaining and surprising on one side but also rather odd and torn apart on the negative side. I can understand people that would rate this movie under five points and people that would give it a top rating, the whole thing heavily depends on your personal taste. If you're open-minded and just want to live a strange odyssey, the chances are good that you might at least appreciate this somehow experimental film but if you're looking for something coherent, gripping and more traditional in terms of suspense or comedy flick, you should watch a detailed trailer before you get your hands on a copy of this.

The strongest point of this feature is definitely the dirty humour. I know many people that actually adore Bruges. I have been there and must admit that even though I'm pretty much interested in arts and history, this town is pretty boring and almost appeared as a sleepy ghost town to me filled with tourists and their guides and a couple of old people. That's why I can really laugh about the stereotypical descriptions of that city and the extreme discussions about its strong and weak points. These discussions and the slapstick elements in many unpredictable situations were my favourite parts in the film.

I disliked the character development, basically the whole plot and the lack of true suspense after all. There were only episodes, bits and pieces of the movie that I appreciated while there were also many unnecessary lengths. Sometimes, I was extremely bored, then suddenly extremely addicted to this movie. In the end, this feature was worth to be watched and gets some credit for its experimental originality. This is something different from anything I have seen before. It's not always different in good terms but it was refreshing but also exhausting to discover something that unusual. I would though watch it again as this flick has the potential to become a cult movie and might also grow on me.