We’ve all seen this before, or at least we’ve all seen it done several times since a video store clerk named Quentin Tarantino put big words in the mouths of pop savvy crooks in the one-two punch of Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction. But we all know from movies that there are no crooks tougher than Irish crooks and when you team up a pair of Irish hit men for a hard hitting, hard drinking adventure in the Belgium town of Bruges, that’s pretty hardcore. Except that this is a comedy, and a sharp one at that as it delights in self-aware hit men trying to get by In Bruges.

Colin Farrell is Ray and Brendan Gleason is Ken. Both are in Bruges on the orders of English mobster Harry (Ralph Fiennes) after Ray’s hit on a priest goes wrong when a young boy gets caught in the crossfire. Ken is there to supervise Ray as the two of them are ordered to await Harry’s call while posing as regular, touristy sightseers. Ken is eager to play the part and see Bruges, Ray, however, is not. Eventually, Harry calls to give Ken instructions: he wants Ray dead and we needs Ken to do it. So, it’s a rotten time for moral ambiguity to kick in.

The movie works because Farrell and Gleason make such an engaging odd couple. Farrell has some surprisingly excellent comedic chops. His timing’s impeccable as he fires off sardonic one-liners or makes a sour face to Ken’s absurd (in his mind) love for Bruges. Gleason gets to play the straight man to Farrell’s spaz and he’s a joy to watch in the part as he just chills and chalks Ray’s belligerence up to the guilty he’s feeling over the death of the boy. Rounding out the main trio is Fiennes who turns f-bombs into an art form and manages to create a lot of hilarious menace even before the first time you see his face on screen.

Naturally, there are a lot of oddball characters coming in and out of the story to give Ken and Ray some local personality to chew on. By far the stand-out is Jordan Prentice as American dwarf actor Jimmy, who offers an uncomfortably funny extrapolation on the coming race war and what side every race will be on. Clémence Poésy plays a Belgian drug dealer that captures Ray’s attention and she’s cute and funny in a more subtle way as compared to the rest of the film. Poésy also completes the film’s triad of Harry Potter connections: in that franchise Gleason is Mad Eye Moody, Fiennes is Lord Voldemort and Poésy plays French witch Fleur Delacour.

Punctuated by great comedic running gags about karate and filming midgets and the etiquette of a gunfight, In Bruges is a riot thanks to its cast of skilled actors. But then again, it’s also got some pathos, but not too much and even when it is trying to be serious, it turns out to not really be. Occasionally politically incorrect, but in a good way, this film deserves to be seen by a lot of people and hopefully will be.