nycritic
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.
Tim Evanson
It's almost unheard of to find a gay-themed movie out of Ireland. But here it is. Wunderkind David Gleeson wrote and directed this, his first feature-film (shot entirely in his native Limerick). 26-year-old Michael Legge (Older Frank in "Angela's Ashes", and having kept off the 30 pounds he lost for that film) plays Shane, a sweet and artistic but fearful young man who is a bit of a mama's boy and geek. Having lost his father in a DUI motor vehicle accident, 18-year-old Shane abandoned college for a secure civil service job. Now, a year later, Shane seeks to move out of his mother's house and into an apartment in the city. But apartments are expensive and not easy to come by.Soon Shane hooks up with an old schoolmate, Vincent (adorable 23-year-old newcomer Allen Leech). Vincent graduated three years before Shane, and has been attending a local art college. The two move in together.Vincent is the stereotypical homosexual -- flamboyant, well-dressed, stylish, a good dancer, popular, materialistic. Shane is almost the direct opposite, which tells you right away where this film is headed.It's not long before Shane is homesick. Limerick is a violent, impersonal place. Shane knows no one. Vincent, however, is picking up tricks right and left (including a handsome older man). Shane's homesickness is worsened by the confessions of Jerry (played with quiet and gentle desperation by the terrific veteran actor Frank Kelly), a civil servant who shares Shane's cubicle. Jerry is on the verge of retirement. But Jerry never married, never had children, and never followed his life's dreams. Now, his life spent, Jerry is overwhelmed by regrets -- regrets which prey on Shane's loneliness.Shane soon stumbles on a cache of drugs in his apartment building (the incident is not as cheesy or trite as it sounds). When some other tenants almost discover him with the drugs, Shane takes them so he won't be caught. But when Keith, the drug dealer, finds his stash missing, he knows it had to be someone in the building who took them. Keith finds Shane attempting to return the drugs, and decides to co-opt the insecure young man (an ugly and yet realistic twist in the plot).Shane and Vincent eventually bond, with Shane admitting that he admires the way Vincent easily fits in. (It's a moment of dialogue that had a largely gay audience laughing out loud.) Vincent encourages Shane to try harder, and that means following your dreams and being yourself.Following Vincent's advice, Shane decides to apply for art school. But the fees and cost of books are horrendously high. Shane makes a fateful decision, and agrees to be a "mule" for one of Keith's drug shipments in return for a large cash payment.Shane travels to Dublin, where he meets two of Keith's drug buddies. They give him a shipment of drugs to take back to Limerick. But as the three joyride in a stolen car, they smash into another vehicle. Horrified (as his father died in a similar accident), Shane freezes. The two dealers, however, are not and they brutally beat one of the crash victims when he attempts to call for an ambulance for his injured female companion.Back in Limerick, Shane makes his drop and is rewarded with 800 punts for his trouble. Shane swallows his fears and horror at what he's done, and asks Vincent to turn him into a stylish social butterfly. Vincent gleefully agrees.Shane is transformed, and soon draws the attention of Vincent's beautiful blond female friend, Gemma. But needing more cash to fund his social experiment, Shane swallows his misgivings and starts helping Keith push drugs. Shane himself begins a downward spiral into drug use. When Vincent confronts him and Shane admits that he's been using drugs, Vincent storms out.Vincent, however, remains unaware of Shane's larger troubles. He's struggling to complete his senior project -- a fashion show for which he has yet to complete any designs. Although Shane is aware of Vincent's need for assistance, he neglects his new friend as he continues to snort, smoke and drink his way through life. Things come to a head one night in a club. Shane a pill which makes him loose control. Shane spies Vincent and Gemma dancing, and his drug-induced paranoia causes him to attack Vincent. Gemma punches him out, and Shane is thrown out of the club. That night, Keith takes Shane back to the apartment -- unaware that Gemma and Vincent are sleeping in Vincent's bedroom. Gemma tries to seduce Vincent, and Keith tries to seduce Shane. But both men reject these advances. It's a moment of truth for each, being true to themselves for once. The next day, Shane reconciles with Vincent and helps him with his senior project.But events begin spiralling out of control. Shane attempts to destroy the drugs in his possession, but completes only half the task when the police burst into the apartment. Finding heroin, pot and crack cocaine, they arrest Shane and Vincent.Certain they will be indicted for drug dealing and possession, the two are hauled before a local Detective Inspector -- who, it turns out, is the same man Vincent had sex with a few weeks before. The closeted detective lets them go (a ludicrous turn of events).Off they rush to Vincent's fashion show. It's a wild success -- and stars Shane as the super-model surrounded by hot women in tight clothes.All's well that ends well: Shane surprises Vincent by using his remaining drug money to buy Vincent an open-ended ticket to New York City, the place Vincent has dreamt of going to pursue being a fashion designer. Shane decides to abandon his cushy civil service job in favor of art school, and the beautiful Gemma falls in love with him.Shane's learned his lesson: Money and drugs don't make you fit in. Only being true to yourself will get you happiness and what you wish for.The problems are pretty obvious in the film. Once more, a film tries to be a "dramedy" -- mixing comic laughs with serious drama in a mish-mash that's neither. The worst example of this is during the drug bust in the boys' apartment. It's supposed to be a serious moment, the devastation of all their dreams. Shane, in particular, is in deep trouble. He's been in a hit-and-run, obstructed justice by not reporting the crime, obstructed justice by not reporting the beating, engaged in drug possession and drug use and drug transportation and the sale of drugs, been guilty of assault and battery himself and he's guilty of destruction of evidence. Yet, the film tries to lighten the mood by cracking jokes. The audience really can't take any of the important things in the movie seriously (including the film's anti-drug and be-true-to-yourself messages) when it treats them so cavalierly.But a deeper problem is the uneven characterization in the film. Shane is played by the extremely likable, decidedly cute -- and terribly talented -- Michael Legge. But there don't seem to be good reasons for what Shane does. Shane tells Vincent that the death of his father had a deep impact on him. Arguably, Shane should now be an anti-drunk driving advocate. (He appears to be: He refuses to go to pubs, despite Vincent's encouragement, and is upset by public drunkeness.) Yet, Shane almost casually tosses away his aversion toward inebriation in order to earn the money to go to art school. Shane's actions wouldn't seem so out of character had Shane's desperation, loneliness and despair seemed deeper and more soul-wrenching. Instead, Shane is depicted as merely being homesick. And why is Shane so deeply influenced by Vincent? After all, Shane barely knows him. Shane's despair is not so apparently awful that Shane should latch onto just any popular person he encountered...and yet, he does so. This would have made more sense had the film spent more time making Vincent into an impossibly powerful, respected, popular person. But, in fact, Vincent is depicted as a bit insecure, and not as personally influential or charismatic as he should be in order for Shane to respond to him as he does.That exposes another problem in the film, which is the short shrift given the character of Vincent. Vincent is almost a stereoptyical homosexual, a caricature which does little to advance the plausibility of the main story. Indeed, while the heterosexual characters (primarily Shane) seem real and fleshed-out, Vincent remains a goody-two-shoes stereotype. He has no internal life to speak of, and his friendship with Shane remains inexplicable. Indeed, the film's big emotional moment comes when Shane attempts to reconcile with Vincent. Vincent just takes him back -- which implies that Vincent is either some sort of cardboard character who does what the author wants him to, or Vincent is a doormat of a human being who loves forgiving the abusive friends he has. Whichever, it doesn't make Vincent a very appealing or interesting character.It's these sort of problems that the film stumbles over repeatedly. And although "Cowboys and Angels" is pleasant enough (and, thank god!, Irish), well-acted, funny and interesting, the film really doesn't hold together. By the time Shane and Vincent are released from jail (the coincidence of the inspector being Vincent's trick is just too implausible, and their release is farcical), the audience has largely given up on trying to make sense of things or caring about the characters. There's plenty of heart here, but the script needed re-thinking.I look forward to David Gleeson's next film, however, and to more from Michael Legge and Allen Leech.
