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Pretty Good

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

I honestly didn't think of bumping into an underrated Irish film like this and be so glad to have watched it! It's pretty well done with Shawn Hatosy putting on a thick Dublin Irish accent and Danny Dyer as the lover was pretty brilliant too. When they kissed, it just melted your heart with warm, so rosemantic haha!I never heard of the word "Borstal" before as a youth detention centre until I watched this movie just yesterday! Funny how you live in Ireland from the day you were born, you never really get to hear the ol Irish words! Its sad that the real Brendan Behan died at such a young age at 41, it's just remarkable that he had only a short life to live! Poor fella shouldn't have been killing himself with the drink and try to look after his diabetes but unfortunately, there wasn't much to be done as it was already too late for him! RIPBrilliant movie, actors and story, 9/10 it deserves!

This movie is (VERY loosely) based on Brendan Behan's memoir "Borstal Boy". Unfortunately, they took much of what was good about the memoir, and got rid of it. I guess in a way it's understandable. The whole point of the book was the subtle changes going on in a boy's mind, and that's difficult to portray on screen. But the solution chosen by the filmmakers here (go for the cheap sentiment whenever possible as a substitute) didn't really work. The director tried so blatantly, so often, to force emotional moments that those same moments were robbed of their power. Couple that with several moments/characters that were flat out unbelievable (most notably Dale, especially as the film went on), and I was left disappointed. The story of the real Brendan Behan is infinitely more interesting than the fiction made up out of whole cloth for the screen.

Two brilliant but under rated performances by Shawn Hatosy as Brendan Behan and Danny Dyer as Charlie Millwall.This film captures the pithiness of the original play but invokes the intense friendships of an earlier era when emotions such as these had no outlet which was positive.But the love and the pathos which is portrayed by these two brilliant actors is to be recommended.It is a travesty that such a film could not garner the appreciation it deserves on the world stage.The location is filmed just outside of Dublin, so it has the predominant colours of grey and green which enhance the drabness of the borstal scenes.Michael York although past his best, puts in a creditable performance as the Governor of the borstal.This film is a must see for aficionados of Danny Dyer.

In wartime England a reform school headed by a benign warden harbors troublemakers of different nationalities. The IRA rascal, brilliantly played by an American, Sean Hatosy, is just one of the boys whose antics propel Sheridan's film through comic scenes to a finale of loss and sadness. Sheridan's cutting is quick and deft, and, except for the last 10 minutes the plot skillfully avoids the pitfalls of sentimentality.Warning to new directors: pop songs on a movie soundtrack can be injurious to your film, as it is here, along with a peculiarly stagy ending in an Irish railway station, where the hero vanishes into clouds of steam. Otherwise the film is very moving, and certainly one of the best investigations ever into the rightness of feelings of love. Defying the long and awesome tradition of Irish verbal art, Sheridan demonstrates that sometimes silence is the best way to express the feelings that attend separation. The inmates' production of Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest" is a small triumph. The entire film is a huge triumph for director Sheridan. See it in a theater with a good sound system: sometimes the Irish-accented English can be hard to grasp.