Puckoon (2002)

User Rating:

5.5/10   

Director:

Terence Ryan

Writers:

Spike Milligan (novel)
Terence Ryan (screenplay)

Release Date:

4 April 2003 (Ireland)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

Knowing where to draw the line

Plot:

Spike Milligan's book about the divided Irish village of Puckoon comes to the big screen.

Plot Keywords:

Ireland | Border | Church | Coffin | Priest

Cast

Sean Hughes	...	Dan Madigan
Elliott Gould	...	Dr. Goldstein
Daragh O'Malley	...	Father Rudden
John Lynch	...	O'Brien
Griff Rhys Jones	...	Col. Stokes
Nickolas Grace	...	Foggerty
B.J. Hogg	...	Rafferty
David Kelly	...	O'Toole
Milo O'Shea	...	Sgt. McGillikuddie
Freddie Jones	...	Sir John Meredith
Richard Rickings	...	Alex Walker
Richard Attenborough	...	Writer-Director
Marc Sinden	...	The surveyor
Frankie McCafferty	...	Lenny
Conor Mullen	...	Shamus

Runtime:

82 min

Country:

Ireland | UK | Germany

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Finland:K-11 | UK:PG

Filming Locations:

Ballywater Park, County Down, Northern Ireland, UK

Company:

Bórd Scannán na hÉireann

Trivia:

Richard Attenborough plays a "Writer-Director" in this movie. Attenborough is really a director, but he has never worked as a writer.

simply not funny

technically, this movie would have had it all: decent actors, a nice landscape, no obvious sights of a lack of budget, a celebrity like richard attenborough. the plot summary also sounded promising, suggesting a satire on silly bureaucracy and common people outwitting it.

however, it never delivers. the plot is simply too illogical. throughout the whole movie, not one person does a single sensible thing. mad politicians, ridiculous soldiers, brain-dead villagers - all just hustle from one incredible situation to the next. what they all do never makes sense in a context beyond the current scene.

of course, this kind of movie has to be absurd and exaggerated. however, it's also supposed to have at least one instance to point out the madness behind splitting a city in the middle. actually, there are (at least) two attempts, which unfortunately fail: the main character, who doesn't seem to have a clue about what's happening to him, and the "writer", who occasionally cracks jokes from the off that might be considered funny by an audience consisting solely of 12 year olds.

what i found most impressing is that the movie tries to be funny all the time, but didn't made me laugh once. i've seen several bad "funny" movies, but until yet every single one of them featured at least 2 or 3 good laughs. so in this sense, "puckoon" is really remarkable.

if you want to see a great movie with a comparable plot, check out "brazil". don't waste your time on "puckoon".