Cowboys & Angels (2004)

Such a frustrating disappointment

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

This is a story about pursuing your dreams. a young Irish boy, shared an apartment with a stylish gay student and had a crush on his beautiful female friend, also got involved with some drug dealers.The storyline is believable, the evolvement of the plot is intriguing and interesting. How the pure friendship can come into being between a gay man and a straight man? It's the most touching part of this film. The sexual orientation is just a stunt, the relationship of the two characters is well presented.About dreams, the young boy always wanted to be an artist as he had the talent of drawing, but the status quo made him a civil servant. Sometimes we dare not to change just because we are too lazy, or in lack of motivation. Always easier said than done, but taking action might not be so hard as we think. Maybe changing our sexual orientation is difficult, however changing our life to fulfill what you really want is feasible.On the other hand, the drug culture is inevitable to the young generation, the temptation makes it hard to decline. Making a wise choice seems vital then.The cast is good, Michael Legge and Allen Leech each gives a strong and memorable performance, the chemistry between them is pleasant and adorable. Amy Shiels is amazingly beautiful in this film.I highly recommend this film to everyone who are wandering how their lives are going to be and I think it's very useful.

COWBOYS AND ANGELS is a cute but somewhat forgettable coming-of-age movie that features a predictable premise of two men sharing a flat in Limerick -- one gay, one straight -- with an unconventional storyline. Shane (Michael Legge) is a twenty something Irishman who leaves his small town to make it big in the art world but lands a thankless, blue-collar job that does nothing for him. There he meets Vincent (Allen Leech), a stylish gay man who is appalled at Shane's lack of style. A friendship between then ensues, and the inevitable make-over takes place. However, the movie is interested in taking this set-up someplace a little darker, and one evening after a night on the town, Shane comes across a bag of drugs -- which belong to the quiet but dangerous Keith (David Murray) who makes Shane an offer he can't refuse. Thrown in the midst is Shane's attraction to Vince's girlfriend Gemma (Amy Shiels) who herself has an unrequited attraction towards Vince and virtually ignores Shane, and a surprising revelation Shane receives from Keith after a night at their favorite club goes south and he is thrown out into the streets. In this respect, COWBOYS AND ANGELS is a clever depiction of what is obvious and what is not because youth tends to ignore the facts of someone's sexuality, but it makes it even more ambiguous in the character of Keith, who represents a protector with a dark edge. Minus the runway at the end -- itself a cliché that attempts to spell out how far some characters have come in their journey through self-discovery, this is a pretty good movie, one that adheres to its convictions and doesn't try to throw in a left-field wrench for the sake of shocks.

It's rare to come across exceptionally well done movies like this one that manage to stay hidden for years? Cowboys is a genuine rare gem.This cleverly written Irish drama is highly entertaining and realistic. But it's tilted just a few degrees off axis making it fresh and unpredictable. This is familiar subject matter given a genuine makeover with a few Irish twists. It's the sort of film that makes wading through all the junk at film festivals worthwhile.On a more technical level, it never feels particularly low budget. The lead actors do a very credible job. The cinematography is honest and the sound, in particular, is way above average for this genre. There are a few stray threads hanging off the seams here and there, but the story and main characters are easily captivating enough to keep your attention elsewhere.Others obviously consider this a gay themed movie but I don't agree. There's no gay romance and only a brief moments or hints of gay intimacy. There might be a tiny element of "Queer Eye For The Straight Guy" here, but it's just one of many small subplots. It's much more a coming of age movie--and, as such, it clearly excels.

It's a low-budget film with little in the way of a storyline and includes some diversions that have little bearing on the overall product. All of this would lead you to dismiss it as a lightweight offering. However, one of the main functions of a movie is to capture a sense of time and place and, in this context, Cowboys & Angels succeeds brilliantly. Even though it was made just two years ago, it has already found a unique position in time that viewers can relate to. It is set in my hometown of Limerick at the turn of the millennium as Ireland was moving from being the poorest country in western Europe to one of the wealthiest. Much of this happened to the bemusement of a population which had grown up on unemployment and emigration and now suddenly found itself surrounded by opportunities it had only dreamed of up to then. And along the way, a certain innocence was lost as a bulging generation of baby-boomers (Ireland's birthrate peaked thirty years later than its neighbours)worked its way through the buzz and the heartaches of transformation. In some ways, it resembles growing-up classics like American Graffiti and Rebel Without a Cause but set in a very different time and place. The main character, superbly played by Michael Legge, captures that wide-eyed innocence that the country was going through at the time while the photography picks up the youthful vitality of the city. While, on the surface, it may be an unremarkable tale about an unremarkable place, the ambiance is absolutely spot-on. Cowboys & Angels is perhaps the most representative contemporary feature film to come out of Ireland during the past decade.