Ordinary Decent Criminal (2000)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Director:

Thaddeus O'Sullivan

Writer:

Gerard Stembridge (writer)

Release Date:

7 January 2000 (Ireland)

Genre:

Crime | Comedy

Tagline:

Michael just loves taking the law into his own hands!

Plot:

Michael Lynch is Dublin's most notorious criminal, his brazen robberies making him the bane of the Gardaí...

Plot Keywords:

Caravaggio | Art Theft | Irish | Gangster | Faking Own Death

Cast

Kevin Spacey	...	Michael Lynch
Linda Fiorentino	...	Christine Lynch
Peter Mullan	...	Stevie
Stephen Dillane	...	Noel Quigley
Helen Baxendale	...	Lisa
David Hayman	...	Tony Brady
Patrick Malahide	...	Commissioner Daly
Gerard McSorley	...	Harrison
David Kelly	...	Fr. Grogan
Gary Lydon	...	Tom Rooney
Paul Ronan	...	Billy Lynch
Colin Farrell	...	Alec (as Colin Farrel)
Vincent Regan	...	Shay Kirby
Tim Loane	...	Jerome Higgins
Christoph Waltz	...	Peter

Also Known As:

Ein ganz gewöhnlicher Dieb (Germany)

MPAA:

Rated R for language, some violence and sexuality.

Runtime:

93 min | Germany:85 min (TV version)

Country:

UK | Germany | Ireland | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Iceland:14 | Iceland:16 (video rating) | South Korea:15 | Argentina:16 | Chile:18 | Finland:K-15 | France:U | Germany:16 | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R13 | Spain:7 | UK:15 | USA:R | Australia:MA

Filming Locations:

Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland

Company:

Bórd Scannán na hÉireann

Trivia:

The story that Father Grogan tells Michael and Christine about finding Caravaggio's "The Taking of Christ" is true. The painting was found by accident when it was sent for cleaning. It can now be see in the National Gallery of Ireland as stated.

Goofs:

Continuity: At the same time Lynch arrives at the dole office, a gray Austin Metro parks with the rear right wheel on the white line. When Tony gets out, the same car is parked well across the same white line. Finally when Lynch and his band of men come back to rob the office, the same car is properly parked between the white lines.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Veronica Guerin (2003)

Soundtrack:

The Floating Crowbar

Good movie

This was a fine movie, of the type that American film makers seem utterly incapable of making these days. The characters and plot were believable, there was a good sense of place (you got a nice sense of being in Ireland), it had many moments of (believable) excitement and suspense, and the ending was interesting and amusing. I enjoyed the technique the film maker used to splice the planning of the various schemes with the the execution of the schemes. The relationship between the character played by Mr. Spacey and his "two wives" was tittilating without being pornographic, as it was incorporated into his family situation. The parts on the way the police handled the gang were treated with amusement, rather than an expose-style, try-to-shock-us approach. It says something about Hollywood style films these days that Mr. Spacey and Ms. Fiorentino had to go all the way to Ireland to make it.