Made for a paltry but impressive €300,000, The Hardy Bucks Movie has been a long time coming. Featuring characters that have appeared in previous guises both online and on national broadcaster RTÉ, the best thing about the show’s expansion from a weekly prime-time TV instalment to a feature-length movie is that its directors are instilled with a newfound freedom to push new boundaries. The Hardy Bucks Movie is a gleefully unhinged crowd-pleaser with an inherently Irish sense of humour. That sense of humour takes them to strange places, both comedically and geographically – it is a road trip movie, after all – and really allows the gifted cast to go all out. Their strand of comedy feels improvised but also serves to engage the audience in new ways, with the main cast – but particularly lead man ‘The Viper’ himself (Chris Tordoff) – turning in very strong performances.
Mike Sheridan