That sweatshirt totally clashes with his tattoo.

Petty criminals and broken hearts intersect in a working class Irish town in Intermission, a funny, foul-mouthed movie punctuated with sudden and surprising acts of violence, and equally sudden and surprising moments of affecting insight.

Cillian Murphy (28 Days Later) stars as John, supermarket stock boy, recently split from his girlfriend, Deirdre (Kelly Macdonald). Deirdre rebounds to Sam (Michael McElhatton), a middle-aged bank manager who leaves his wife for her. Meanwhile, Lehiff (Colin Farrell) a mean and violent lowlife butts heads with Jerry (Colm Meaney), an equally mean and violent cop who fancies himself the crusading avenger of these mean streets. Throw in: John's friend Jerry (David Wilmot), desperately looking for love; Deirdre's sister Sally (Shirley Henderson), withdrawn from the world after a particularly nasty break-up; Sam's wife Noeleen (Deirdre O'Kane), rediscovering her sexuality after her husband's betrayal; and Mick (Brian F. O'Byrne), a recently sacked bus driver looking for some quick cash, and you've got yourself a pretty nifty ensemble of realistically quirky characters.

They weave in and out of each others lives in ways that are often funny, often poignant, sometimes frightening. Director John Crowley and screenwriter Mark O'Rowe pull it all together with a snappy style and genuine emotion that never relies on cheap sentiment. O'Rowe's dialogue is fresh and funny and actually has a few things to say about the nature of relationships, with or without criminal complications. Intermission is the first feature for both men, and an impressive debut it is.

Bathed in the eerie glow of her own sweater, Sally sipped her beer.

They're helped enormously by an excellent cast. Murphy is a natural as the conflicted John, embodying the heartache and free-floating hostility of a young man teetering nervously on the precipice of real commitment. O'Kane is fiery and funny as the newly empowered Noeleen. Meaney plays Jerry as a dangerous blowhard, a cop who thinks he's Serpico, Dirty Harry, Starsky and Hutch all rolled into one. Henderson finds the perfect tone for gloomy Sally, morose and prickly before finally making tentative steps back towards life. There's a painfully funny running gag about her abandonment of personal grooming, particularly the mustache that she no longer bothers to hide, with more than one person playing the Burt Reynolds card on her, which is just low, I think.

The movie's biggest star as far as we Americans are concerned is, of course, Colin Farrell, an actor that, Phone Booth notwithstanding, I don't usually care for. Here, however, I think he works. Maybe he's easier to buy as a lowlife thug. Maybe I just like him better Irish. I don't know, but for once I have no Farrell-related complaints and I feel good about that.

Intermission is a curious film, a little bit Pulp Fiction, a little bit Love, Actually, and a little bit something you've never seen before, and well worth checking out.

Gorilla Pants rating: 3 out of 4 bananas