'The Legend Of Barney Thomson' review by Jake Boyle
Heroin addiction, the apocalypse, institutional racism - Robert Carlyle's filmography reads like a categorized list of the bleakest possible topics. Even Eragon was depressing, albeit for reasons of quality rather than subject matter. Black comedy can be an awkward line to tread, with even seasoned contributors to the genre like Mark Millar and the Coen Brothers making the occasional misfire, but despite having previously only directed a single Stargate episode, Carlyle seems a perfect fit for both helming and starring in a comedy in which you see multiple dismembered body parts in the opening credits.
Directorial inexperience does cause a slight hitch in that little thought appears to have been put into visuals and framing, particularly with the abundance of eye-level, front-facing shots that make it hard to create much of an atmosphere in the early moments of the film when very little is happening. The initial slowness isn't capitalized on much, with a number of the jokes falling flat, but once the ball gets rolling, the film quickly picks up. As the situation becomes more and more convoluted and deadly, Barney's haplessness becomes all the more amusing, and in turn, his stony-hearted mother's unsympathetic reactions (which were incredibly funny to begin with) become even better. One achievement Carlyle can claim as a director is the truly magnificent performance he has coaxed out of Emma Thompson (barely recognisable, disguised with prosthetics and a highly authentic accent), who utterly inhabits her character and delivers her brilliant lines with a relaxed callousness that sounds far more devastating than any angry tirade. The panicked energy that Carlyle brings is his strongest contribution in a solid performance, which comes to life the most when he's bouncing off the more stoic members of the cast such as Ray Winstone and Brian Pettifer.
One of The Legend Of Barney Thomson's strongest attributes is the way it deals with its macabre themes. The darkness is mostly just limited to the murder-focused plot, not counting one brilliant joke about paedophiles, but there's enough homicide to keep the film's momentum unwavering (once it begins) without ever going into overkill (pun intended). The violence and the horror of it are treated with a degree of gleefulness but never one that verges on self-satisfied or lazy. The plot is very well constructed (although that is more praise for the original book's author Douglas Lindsay), escalating the danger and weaving elements together in a way that rarely feels convoluted, and the one plot twist that does test the bounds of credibility provides so much dramatic and comedic payoff that it's very easily excused. The resolution of the story is fantastic, although it's slightly scuppered by Barney's narration, which throughout the film presents information that the actors were quite easily capable of conveying themselves, with not much comedic value. As a whole, the dialogue is of quite a high standard albeit occasionally plain, but comedy is mostly drawn from contrasting Barney's uselessness with the seriousness of his situation, best exemplified in the brilliant sequence where he tries to dispose of a body in an inflatable dinghy.
The Legend Of Barney Thomson falters in the beginning while it's still establishing itself, but once the pace builds and the tone darkens, it quickly becomes an invigorating and consistently amusing exercise in black comedy. Those familiar with the genre won't find anything especially groundbreaking, but it's well-crafted and played out with enthusiasm and certainty. As a director, Carlyle shows no real interest in style, however more crucially he does get a firm grip on the substance of the film and has a good eye for material. His performance is as nuanced as the film's tone allows and balances intense pitfulness with a distant likability, and doesn't deserve to be overlooked just because Emma Thompson is so brilliant and brazen. There are small hiccups and perhaps a lack of ambition, so Barney might not be truly legendary, but it's a decent directorial debut, a vehicle for the finest comedic performance of the year, and a pleasantly unpleasant tale to be told.
Directorial inexperience does cause a slight hitch in that little thought appears to have been put into visuals and framing, particularly with the abundance of eye-level, front-facing shots that make it hard to create much of an atmosphere in the early moments of the film when very little is happening. The initial slowness isn't capitalized on much, with a number of the jokes falling flat, but once the ball gets rolling, the film quickly picks up. As the situation becomes more and more convoluted and deadly, Barney's haplessness becomes all the more amusing, and in turn, his stony-hearted mother's unsympathetic reactions (which were incredibly funny to begin with) become even better. One achievement Carlyle can claim as a director is the truly magnificent performance he has coaxed out of Emma Thompson (barely recognisable, disguised with prosthetics and a highly authentic accent), who utterly inhabits her character and delivers her brilliant lines with a relaxed callousness that sounds far more devastating than any angry tirade. The panicked energy that Carlyle brings is his strongest contribution in a solid performance, which comes to life the most when he's bouncing off the more stoic members of the cast such as Ray Winstone and Brian Pettifer.
One of The Legend Of Barney Thomson's strongest attributes is the way it deals with its macabre themes. The darkness is mostly just limited to the murder-focused plot, not counting one brilliant joke about paedophiles, but there's enough homicide to keep the film's momentum unwavering (once it begins) without ever going into overkill (pun intended). The violence and the horror of it are treated with a degree of gleefulness but never one that verges on self-satisfied or lazy. The plot is very well constructed (although that is more praise for the original book's author Douglas Lindsay), escalating the danger and weaving elements together in a way that rarely feels convoluted, and the one plot twist that does test the bounds of credibility provides so much dramatic and comedic payoff that it's very easily excused. The resolution of the story is fantastic, although it's slightly scuppered by Barney's narration, which throughout the film presents information that the actors were quite easily capable of conveying themselves, with not much comedic value. As a whole, the dialogue is of quite a high standard albeit occasionally plain, but comedy is mostly drawn from contrasting Barney's uselessness with the seriousness of his situation, best exemplified in the brilliant sequence where he tries to dispose of a body in an inflatable dinghy.
The Legend Of Barney Thomson falters in the beginning while it's still establishing itself, but once the pace builds and the tone darkens, it quickly becomes an invigorating and consistently amusing exercise in black comedy. Those familiar with the genre won't find anything especially groundbreaking, but it's well-crafted and played out with enthusiasm and certainty. As a director, Carlyle shows no real interest in style, however more crucially he does get a firm grip on the substance of the film and has a good eye for material. His performance is as nuanced as the film's tone allows and balances intense pitfulness with a distant likability, and doesn't deserve to be overlooked just because Emma Thompson is so brilliant and brazen. There are small hiccups and perhaps a lack of ambition, so Barney might not be truly legendary, but it's a decent directorial debut, a vehicle for the finest comedic performance of the year, and a pleasantly unpleasant tale to be told.
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