The Lads

250 euros. There's a lot you could do with that amount of money. You could go to the cinema 40 times. You could buy 50 pints of porter. 100 bags of chips. Maybe grab a few early Christmas presents. You could pay a months rent if you're lucky enough to live in Limerick or if you're good enough at budgeting and planning in advance you could have a very cheap couple of days away in a city Ryanair fly to. What you shouldn't do with €250 is try to make a movie. You might have romantic notions of making an ultra low budget masterpiece but in reality it just won't work.

Paul, Scott and Fionn are 3 friends living in Arklow. Paul (Ryan Hennessy) works in an office, Scott (Ian Adams who also wrote and directed) in a hardware shop and Fionn (Dylan Hanlon) is a thieving little shit who robs all around him to fund his lifestyle of weed, wanking and playstation. When he breaks into the wrong house, the 3 lads finds themselves fearing for their lives and to repay a debt they must delve in a life of crime. The only problem is they are a pack of eejits.

It sounds like a fun watch doesn't it. It's not. In fairness it could have been really good. It's a familiar story but with an Irish spin and some of the setpieces are quite funny but it's hamstrung from the beginning with such awful acting that you just won't be able to get past it. That combined with the fact that the 3 lads are genuinely horrible individuals turns this into a watch that's a struggle to get through. I feel really bad complaining about this because I love Irish films and will always support them by paying to see them in the cinema. People put their blood, sweat and tears into this but all that hard work will be overshadowed by some of the worst performances I've ever seen in an Irish production and I've watched a lot of Fair City. I won't point out anyone in particular but all the actors share the blame. 

There's good in here though, no doubt about it. Writer and director Ian Adams does a good job on the visual side of things no doubt helped by his time working on the Vikings TV show & Penny Dreadful. A montage of ill prepared robbery is well done and will make you laugh. A session fueled by coke, shots and chips feels like a real lads night out. Aerial views of Arklow give the film the look of a bigger production and an impressively staged toilet brawl feels rough and ready and the ensuing bloody mess shows off some very impressive make up effects. Those same effects make an appearance later up in a scene of violence so numbing in it's viciousness that it feels totally at odds with the fun present earlier in the film. I'm not sure what point Adams is trying to make here. Crime doesn't pay? Or does it? Or is it ok if it's a necessity?? It gives off a confused message and gives the film a confused tone. Are the lads supposed to be likable? Are they supposed to a genuine look at what young lads are like in this day and age?  Jesus I hope not because they do some really quite horrible things in their quest.

This could have been good. The raw material is there and it looks very polished for such an ultra low budget but a jarring script and dire acting kill it before it has a chance. It's a pity but it's a miracle at the same time that this film was ever even made.