Now that a well-deserved Oscar win for Oppenheimer has undoubtedly increased overall awareness of Cillian Murphy, it’s inevitable there will also be renewed interest some of his earlier, more obscure films. In Perrier’s Bounty, a 2009 Irish black comedy, he’s endearing as a scruffy a low-life criminal, though the film is frequently stolen by his co-stars.
Michael McRea (Murphy) owes vicious gangster Darren Perrier (Brendan Gleeson) a lot of money. Despite last minute efforts, he’s unable to come up with it on time, even after teaming up with another local criminal, The Mutt (Liam Cunningham), for a quick score. When Perrier sends two thugs to break his legs, one of them is shot by Michael’s friend and neighbor, Brenda (Jodie Whittaker), who was contemplating suicide after being dumped by her philandering boyfriend.
The same night, Michael’s estranged father, Jim (Jim Broadbent) shows up and announces he’s dying. At first he says it’s cancer, but later claims the Grim Reaper himself warned him he’ll die when he goes to sleep. This leads to a running gag detailing Jim’s efforts to stay awake (eating ground coffee, snorting coke, etc.). Meanwhile, Perrier has put a bounty on both Michael and Brenda, which The Mutt also decides he wants to collect.
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| When you visit the park and all the swing-sets have been removed. |
The ensemble cast is ultimately what makes Perrier’s Bounty worth checking out, with Gleeson and Broadbent being particular stand-outs. The screenplay and story have their moments, sometimes very clever ones, but save for the hilarious karmic death of one major character, the film is seldom all that funny. In fact, the underlying theme is actually kind of a downer.
Perrier’s Bounty might be worth seeking out for Cillian Murphy fans, though it’s probably destined to be just a footnote in his career. Essentially playing beleaguered straight-man to a collection of quirky characters, he’s done better films before and since, but overall, the film is certainly watchable.
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