Guy Ritchie may have popularized crime capers from the British Isles with Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch, but it is with Perrier's Bounty that director Ian FitzGibbon manages to imbue the genre with the perfect degree of irony and charm, even throwing in a dash of romance. A tongue-in-cheek narrator introduces us to anti-hero Michael McCrea, who is the perfect boy next door – or upstairs, if you're his best friend Brenda. Night after night, he patiently listens to Brenda's lamentations about her boyfriend Seamus's cheating heart. A real catch, right? The unfortunate matter is that Michael is estranged from his father, Jim. And he owes Dublin's most ruthless gangster, Darren Perrier, a lot of money. With impeccable pacing, Perrier's Bounty follows Michael during two whirlwind nights in the city. From beginning to end, Mark O'Rowe's screenplay is a superb blend of lighthearted, offbeat comedy and crimestory thrills, with the perfect measure of warmth between its hard-luck characters. In Perrier's Bounty, familial bonds and romantic ties make the journey out of the Dublin underworld all the brighter. Michèle Maheux