An ‘Intermission’ worth taking

REVIEW

By David Germain

updated 4:21 p.m. ET March 16, 2004

If nothing else, the rollicking Irish comedy “Intermission” at least will make you curious how brown sauce used on meat and potatoes might spice up a cup of tea.

You’ll almost need a scorecard to keep tabs on the many strange people meandering in and out of the film, which is part romance, part heist flick. And subtitles wouldn’t hurt in spots for American ears unused to deciphering thick Irish accents.

Yet the wit and verve of “Intermission,” from first-time director John Crowley and novice screenwriter Mark O’Rowe far outshines the occasional character chaos and conversational cacophony.

Stage director Crowley and playwright O’Rowe neatly stitch together a dozen or so key characters, loosely connected by soured romances and a dubious bank holdup.

Often bizarrely funny, the movie freshens up the hip European crime-romp genre pioneered by “Trainspotting” and “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels” with a stronger female presence and a lovably dim gang of saps and sad sacks.

Farrell shines in a character role
The filmmakers initially thought of Colin Farrell for the nominal lead, largely a straight-ahead romantic role. To his credit, Farrell opted for a smaller, scruffier part as Lehiff, a vicious but not terribly effectual street thug who plans the bank job.

“Intermission” will either grab or repel you in the opening sequence, as Farrell’s Lehiff seemingly embarks on the first tender moments of new romance with a store clerk he’s just met before abruptly revealing his true colors.

Cillian Murphy, who had the lead in last year’s zombie fest “28 Days Later,” landed the part Farrell rejected, as pleasantly aimless John, a bored-to-tears grocery clerk who’s inexplicably taken an “intermission” from sweet and lovely girlfriend Deirdre (Kelly Macdonald).

John and best pal Oscar (David Wilmot) share a liking for brown sauce in their tea. Desperately seeking love, Oscar hooks up with Noeleen (Deirdre O’Kane), an older woman who finds empowerment — and puts poor Oscar through painful sexual paces — after her husband abandons her.

Noeleen’s hubby Sam (Michael McElhatton) has left her to move in with John’s Deirdre, whose sister Sally (Shirley Henderson) — jilted by her own beau — expresses disapproval and ignores the thickening mustache sprouting on her upper lip as she lets herself go to seed.

A banker, Sam is targeted for a heist plotted by Lehiff, who enlists John and newly fired bus driver Mick (Brian F. O’Byrne) in the scheme. Farrell — the best thing about last year’s “Daredevil” with his deranged hit man — is even better here, delivering one of the film’s comic highlights when he samples John’s brown-sauce-and-tea concoction.

Cruising like a shark through this mayhem is copper Jerry (Colm Meaney of “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” in a deliciously amusing role), a blustering “Dirty Harry” wannabe aiming to bring down Lehiff. On Jerry’s trail is TV producer Ben (Tom O’Sullivan), who hopes to make a name with his gritty mean-streets documentary about the detective.

The cast is first-rate, with Macdonald, Henderson and O’Kane joining Meaney and Farrell as standouts.

Crowley and O’Rowe were lucky to connect with Neil Jordan and producing partner Stephen Woolley, whose film outfit Company of Wolves co-financed the film. An amorphous ensemble tale such as “Intermission” might never have been made if not for Jordan and Woolley, filmmakers with a long history of idiosyncratic character studies themselves.

In closing, here’s one reviewer’s verdict on brown sauce in his tea: Surprisingly tasty, but kind of a special-occasion embellishment.

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