Ken and Ray are two Irish hit men forced out of London by their mob boss Harry after a bungled job. With nothing to do but enjoy a fortnight in Bruges cooling their heels in a shared room run by a pregnant and suspicious hotel owner, the older of the two, Ken (Brendan Gleeson), tries to make the best of things. Unfortunately Belgium’s finest and best preserved medieval town is not of much interest to the much younger Ray (Colin Farrell), who retorts, “Ken, I grew up in Dublin. I love Dublin. If I grew up on a farm, and was retarded, Bruges might impress me but I didn't, so it doesn't.”

While this brilliantly witty little film has many laugh-out-loud moments that come mainly from the duo’s comfortable and irreverent banter, it can not be easily categorised as a mere comedy caper. The disastrous killing of an innocent boy in London deeply haunts Ray, who seeks brief escape in finding a dodgy local girlfriend, befriending an American midget making a movie in the town and trying to find the meaning in religious art at the museums Ken drags him to. Ken is older and wiser and can see that Ray has a future and an opportunity to redeem himself if circumstances permit. Gleeson and Farrell are perfect in their roles as the bickering yet close mates and Ralph Fiennes is clearly enjoying himself playing their boss Harry, a cockney git with an evil logic that is as cold as ice yet understandable.

Bruges the town is the other main star. Its cobbled streets, historic layered buildings and canals are the butt of many jokes, but it retains its beauty and dignity throughout the messy entanglements that Ray and Ken find themselves in. This film is a buddy road movie with extra spice and dollops of tragedy, sadness and retribution thrown in and makes me not only want to visit the place but share a pint with Ken and Ray.