The title character in the new black comedy Barney Thomson is a barber without a quirk, admitting as much in thick Scottish accent in the film’s opening scenes that he “doesn’t see the point” – which might be why his barber’s chair is the only one empty in a crowded barber shop. The hapless hair-cutter’s self-deprecating voice-over of being no-one special, mixed with shots of crime-scene photographs of dismembered body parts, sets the stage for what’s to come – the story of an unlucky man finding himself at the center of a serial killer’s spree, much like a clumsy cousin of Sweeney Todd.
The directorial debut of comic actor Robert Carlyle, Barney Thomson is a mostly fully amusing effort that goes for laughs by consistently pitting the hapless lad’s bad fortune of having dead bodies befall before his feet with the misfortune of having a crime unit that just so happens to also be looking for a wanted murderer. The thick and impassioned Scottish accents complement the deft and lighthearted handling of the gruesome murders, but the way Carlyle sets the thing up makes Barney’s sad sack nature and array of bewildered faces makes for a funny outing.
Breathing life into this Glasgow-set world are a host of wonderful performances, including a rock-solid Ray Winstone as Investigator Holdall who’s got it out for Barney, a surprisingly funny character in Detective Inspector June Robertson (Ashley Jensen), and a hilarious Emma Thompson, who, from the moment we see her hooping and hollering at a Grey Hound race, in marooned bee-hive hair and leopard coat, gives a gem of a hilarious performance, and winks at being somebody with a mysterious secret.
From beginning to end in all 96 minutes, Barney almost begs the audience to see him as a normal Joe of non-importance, and it’s a box that almost confines Barney Thomson a bit too much. Like its main character, the movie is a mostly familiar bit of fun that could’ve pushed the boundaries a little more, though it speaks to the movie’s tonal strengths that it gets genuine laughs and genuine gross-outs without any sort of real blood splattering, and instead, smartly written scripting. It has a good burst of first-act fun as we learn the set-up, but as it goes on – and with the exception of a fun second act twist – the movie slogs and pulls its dead weight much like Barney is resigned to do for the rest of the movie, and without much of a final hoorah for our sad sack hero.
Not Rated. ‘Barney Thomson’ is in theaters today.
