Intermission (John Crowley, 2003)

This otherwise unassuming ensemble piece seems to betray a lack of conviction in being able to generate enough interest by virtue of its ideas alone, and so we get an overkill of Ireland's big guns in Cillian Murphy, Colm Meaney and Colin Farrell, respectively as a hapless chancer, swaggering crimebuster and narcissistic scumbag.

It all turns out to be fairly standard fare, with the stories of various quirkily bungling characters, whose lovability is rather taken for granted, intersecting in unsurprising ways which at least allow for the delivery of some choice lines, of which Meaney's borderline nutcase cop probably gets the lion's share. 

In short, it's inoffensive and not unintelligent, but ultimately insubstantial, and will hardly shake up anyone's stereotypes of Ireland with its fecks, street urchins and folk music.

5/10