Having seen a trailer for this movie and thinking it looked quite amusing, I decided to catch it before it disappeared from my local cinema screens. And In Bruges did indeed prove to be quite amusing, but unfortunately that was about all.

This film is about Ray and Ken, two Irish hit-men parcelled off to Bruges by their boss, Harry, to lie low after a hit and await further instructions. Ken (Brendan Gleeson) is determined to enjoy the sights and the culture; Ray (Colin Farrell) would rather not be there at all, or at least down the pub -- until he stumbles across a film-shoot and meets the lovely Chloë (Clémence Poésy), whom he tries his best to woo. And things soon get a whole lot more problematic for Ray: he killed a little boy by mistake during the hit, for which Harry wants Ray dead -- and gives Ken the job...

The first thing to say in the movie's favour is that the two leads give great performances: Gleeson plays Ken such that you could almost -- but not quite -- forget that he's a hit-man at all. But Farrell is especially good, making Ray crassly offensive and yet oddly charming; the impression gained is that he would insult you -- if not worse! -- but would do so mainly because he doesn't know any better. There are also some nicely humorous moments (many of which, yes, involve Ray saying the wrong thing); and, of course, Bruges itself is stunning.

So why didn't I like In Bruges more? Mainly, I think, because the humour didn't always seem to sit very easily alongside the sometimes quite brutal violence. The end result was neither funny nor dramatic enough to be more than a second-tier movie for me. Though I must admit the film ends at exactly the right point.

And finally: I've never been to Bruges, but seeing this has made me think I'd find it interesting. Another entry for my list of places to visit...