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34 of 39 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
I wanted a little more - just a little, February 21, 2005
This could have been a great film. What took it from a great film to a good film, for me, was the drug running. I understand that there needed to be a contrivance to get Shane money that he didn't have for both art school and a turnabout from geek to cute, but I just thought there could have been something less expectant. I remember myself thinking, before the idea even came out, "God, I hope he doesn't get into drug running". Yet he did. By the way, with his hair, clothes, and everything else, I thought he was perfectly fine. A person doesn't need to be wildly fashionable to be attractive. Shane was attractive as he was.
This was such a great concept. Two guys from totally different worlds manage to find themselves in the same world, and the gay guy works a "miracle" on the straight guy to turn him into something more than he is. This too is something rather simple, but the actors made it something more. Both Vincent and Shane really turned in terrific performances. Okay, maybe not a "great" concept, but it was a concept that was acted out magnificently. Vincent and Shane were completely believable characters. At first I didn't quite buy Shane's interest in drugs at all - never mind the drug running - but when you consider his relative loneliness, it fits quite well. Vincent's hatred of drugs was a welcome compliment to that. A very welcome compliment.
There have been countless girls (Gemma) who have fallen in love with beautiful gay guys, and tried to turn them. The scene when Gemma tried to make love to Vincent was entirely believable. Even though Vincent was gay, "everybody tries it once", and he gave it his best shot. It didn't work.
There was a tension in the film that was so powerful that it made me angry that the drug running was a part of it. That was Vincent's obvious attraction to Shane. Whenever the two were shown together in their apartment, they were very close to each other, sometimes shoulder to shoulder, and on more than one occasion, Vincent had his knee on Shane's leg. I found it completely believable that Shane didn't sense Vincent's attraction to him, and when Shane was "seduced" by the drug runner and turned him away, that was believable as well. Vincent was gay. Shane was straight. I won't deny that part of me wished that Shane would fall for Vincent, but it's almost better that they were simply best friends, that Shane took whatever money he had left over to give Vincent a ticket to New York to pursue his dream of fashion.
Again, my only problem in the film was the drug running. It took up too much time in a movie that had a considerable amount of material to mine. I wanted to see so much more of Vincent and Shane - and I'm not talking about wanting to see them in sexual situations. They were just such believable characters that if the drug running was removed and more time given to their relationship, it would have been a great film. Perhaps instead of the drug running, they could have given more time to Shane's infatuation with Gemma. That would have been terrific.
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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Roomates Help Each Other Out, February 22, 2005
"Cowboys & Angels" is an entertaining tale showing how a brief rooming together of one gay and one straight man results in benefit to both. Twenty-year old, straight Shane Butler (played by Michael Legge) moves to downtown Limerick to be closer to his safe, dull civil service job in Ireland's Department of Agriculture. Not being able to afford the rent alone, he rooms with a gay, 23-year old student of fashion design, Vincent Cusack (played by Allen Leech). Shane becomes attracted to a fast-food server, Gemma (played by Amy Shiels), and gets life and career advice from a retiring co-worker, Jerry (played by Frank Kelly). It turns out that Gemma is a close friend of Vincent and is a possible lesbian. Dowdy Shane is not going anywhere fast and is even not being allowed into the trendy night club. Vincent rides to the rescue. Along the way Shane realizes that his career passion is drawing and that art school might make sense. Art schoool is expensive; so Shane is subject to temptation. Temptation leads to big trouble. Along the way the more disciplined Vincent gets roped in and has to come up with a way both to put on a successful show of his fashions for graduation and to get out of the soup. Through luck and good character, there is a happy ending.
The extras include a good commentary track with Writer/ Director David Gleeson and actors Legge and Leech, some deleted scenes (two of which have some frisson), a director's text statement on his purpose for the movie, and some trailers.
The skin shots are modest - Gemma's back, side-views of chests with open shirts and the like. There is good use of suggestion.
The movie is successful in showing how people of good will with different backgrounds can negotiate a living arrangement and help each other live better. When Shane has his downward spiral, Vincent is able to keep matters under control. This is a reversal of the stereotype of the stalwart straight person and the flustered gay one. Limerick looks very beautiful, with castles and riverfront views. There is good use of humor throughout.
My one issue with the movie is that it continues the traditional focus on the straight character at the expense of the gay one. At the end Vincent is able to help Shane change his look, his career, and his loneliness, while staying out of jail. Separately, Shane gets good advice through his job. Despite the fabulous clothes, makeup, and apartment, Vincent is never shown with a boyfriend or even a date. Vincent is shown having a single, brief encounter with a nice-looking greying-haired gentleman and is shown hanging out at both the local club and at home only with the woman, Gemma. Vincent's parents are glimpsed once, at his graduation, and are never mentioned otherwise. Where does the money for art school and all the clothes and home decorations come from? Vincent seems to have no adult coaches. Vincent is an inherently good and sensible person, but the questions about his social life, funding, and mentors are never asked. Seen unsympathetically, this movie might appear to be a partial upgrade of the old story of the gay sidekick doing his all to help his straight buddy and ending up with not much for himself.
(Shane does help Vincent overcome a creative block and does behave well at the end; so it is not quite as one-sided as the above might imply.)
I liked the movie, especially the acting and Limerick, and would be happy to watch a sequel.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Refreshing, Warmly Humorous and Tender Story from Ireland, February 16, 2005
Writer and Director David Gleeson has molded a film about contemporary youth and the life problems and decisions they make and in doing so has created a story unblemished by the conventional tropes - an unusual and commendable feat.
Small town lad Shane (Michael Legge) narrates this adventure as he enters the 'big city' civil service employment in Limerick to support his newly widowed mother and family. An artist at heart and of talent, Shane stumbles along trying to find a flat he can afford, eventually settling into a shared mid-city flat with a young gay art student Vincent (Allen Leech). The two seem polar opposites at first: Shane is conservative in dress and job and social demeanor while Vincent is garish, ebullient, and progressive in this artsy way of life.
Slowly, through a wondrous honesty about who they are, the two become close and Vincent does a makeover of Shane to give him a chance to be more engaged in the world. By a curious accident, Shane discovers a stash of drugs in the lobby of their flat, only to discover that it belongs to two men who live there - Keith (David Manning) and Budgie (Colm Coogan). Serendipitously, Shane is talked into 'transporting' drugs from Dublin to Limerick for 1000 Euros, money Shane desperately needs if he is to maintain his newly designed lifestyle.
Shane's adventure in Dublin is complicated by dire happenings but he manages to return to Limerick and his reward. Shane tries some of the drugs with bad consequences and is eventually arrested along with Vincent for possession of a tiny amount of drugs in their flat. One of Vincent's ex tricks happens to work in the Police Department and the two are freed.
Subplots include a tender friendship between Shane and a retiring civil servant Jerry (Frank Kelly) whose end to his boring career and life alters Shane's outlook considerably. In the end Shane and Vincent (along with Gemma - Amy Shiels - a fellow art student of Vincent's who shares many qualities with both lads) are warmly bonded and the results of their friendship are the unexpected but lovely end to this film.
All of the actors are first rate and the direction is fast paced and unbelievably unbiased and tender. This is a fine film for audiences young of age and of heart and is one of the better-balanced films about the spectrum of sexuality that has been made. Wonderful film! Grady Harp, February 2005
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