Breakfast on Pluto

Viewer Rating:Eoghan Bolger has rated Breakfast on Pluto rating: 3 Star

Breakfast on Pluto

Breakfast on Pluto is a comedy film by Neil Jordan, it stars Brendan Gleeson, Liam Neeson and Cillian Murphy. The story sees an Irish Tran gendered teenager, played by Murphy on a quest to find his mother.
The film is two hours long.


I think this may be one of Jordan's slightly disappointing films. I would say that had I seen this movie when I was a teenager which is when it came out I may have gotten more from it. I have also seen a good few the director's other films and therefore may have been spoiled by them.
That being said this is still well worth watching, however although it is largely, laugh out loud, offbeat, engaging, imaginative while also tackling and referring to more serious issues and even going for an emotional angle despite these segments despite being strong they do also make the movie feel disjointed, fractured and hurt the pacing at times. The lead character is eccentric, quirky, fun, sympathetic but he's also frustratingly innocent and naïve the latter giving me a mixed reaction. Murphy embodies the role well and Gleeson is in a hilarious, underused side role as is Neeson.
This is a good comedy-drama and Murphy (and its not the dress) , this is one of the rare examples he looks attractive in a movie to me and his overacting didn't get on my nerves.
Patrick Mcabe who wrote the film and source novel showed more sharpness and wit in Butcher boy so I may have set the bar too high having known his involvement here.
Breakfast on Pluto is a film I would have awarded a four out of five to if the execution was as good as what the storyline is offering/showing me. But it feels too hectic and all over the place that even though the vignette's are all well and good the movie gets too distracted and goes off on a tangent far too much. Simply put the storytelling style works both in and against its favor.

Verdict: ***

Review published on the 01 May 2012 03:49