Mickybo and Me (2005)

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Admirable film.

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

This is simply a quite brilliant piece of work from all aspects. Each member of the cast adds to the enjoyment of this journey with the two young boys. The whole range of your emotions will be experienced as the boys take you back to the dark place that was Northern Ireland in the 1970's. Definitely a film I shall watch again and again. The realism of the times is eloquently underplayed yet adds much to the film. All the supporting actors give extremely well balanced performances which help you to engage with the extraordinary tale. Camera work is well constructed and accompanied by good background music and audio. Even the background narrative adds to the experience.

The film in my opinion is a fantastic representation of a child's experience of the troubles in northern ireland. It is quite accurate.It could be classified as a comedy, but I would say it's more of a dark comedy because, while the kids are playful and goofy at times, as one would expect the setting is entirely depressing. The mothers' characters are unforeseen because they do not fall into normal Irish stereotypes. However, the father's characters are very stereotypically Irish, which was somewhat disappointing. Nevertheless, an important film to see.It is about the loss of innocence in a tragic environment and two friends trying to hold onto what little peace they have left.The editing and cinematography is at times lame, but at other times absolutely fantastic, especially the ending scenes -- pay attention because it is visually stunning.8/10 because, while the acting is good, at times the movie is a bit too ridiculous and it borderlines on slapstick, a poor choice for the director in my opinion.

This film was so enjoyable. It was great fun to name all the names of places we knew, a real nostalgia trip even for those of us who weren't around in 1970s Belfast.It had two huge problems with it however. Julie Walters and Gina McKee. Did the directors feel that some household names would be useful? Why do they feel the need to insert Julie Walters in to every single 'working class regional woman' role? Their accents were rubbish, slipping into the 'begorras' at every opportunity. Do they even know that a Belfast Protestant and Belfast Catholic accent can sound very different? Julie Walters couldn't even get the intonation right for God's sake, and she was far too old. Gina McKee was a lot better but still left so much to be desired. There is such a healthy arts scene, and no shortage of good actresses in the region, it really disgusted me to see Julie Walters shoved into a role and expect me to accept her performance as any more that mediocre, and patronising in the extreme to expect the Northen Ireland audience to accept her as 'one of their own'.

The story is basically that of two young boys in Belfast in the summer of 1970 who come from opposite sides of the sectarian divide. Obsessed with the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, they decide to run away to Australia and leave their problems behind.I've seen this film twice and would happily watch it again. The two young main characters, Jonjo and Mickybo, are wonderfully cast and the story dwells on their friendship and their need to escape their lives rather than being just another film about the Troubles in Northern Ireland.The cast is excellent, Adrian Dunbar being a standout as the wastrel father. The film is definitely a crowd pleaser but the story is good enough to avoid being corny or sentimental.