This is my favourite movie of the year. Brilliant in all respects - funny, moving, thought provoking. One of those movies that make you sit This is my favourite movie of the year. Brilliant in all respects - funny, moving, thought provoking. One of those movies that make you sit there during the end credits simply trying to take it all in. Gleason is great and really needs to start getting the recognition he deserves. … Expand

Absolutely phenomenal. This film had me speechless. Brendan Gleeson and Chris O'Dowd are both on their game, and the directorial style is very Absolutely phenomenal. This film had me speechless. Brendan Gleeson and Chris O'Dowd are both on their game, and the directorial style is very clean and punctuated. What had me the most, however, was the powerful screenplay. It argues for and against the many complex arguments that encircle the Catholic church without being too safe or too proselytizing, making profound statements on society, religion, and life as a whole – and sneaking in further commentary on art, wealth, medicine, relationships, and everything else that concerns the human experience. A heart stirring score by Patrick Cassidy wraps this gem of a film with a bow on top. A must see for everyone. … Expand

Calvary is a dark tale saved by comedic timing. This is no advertisement for village living either despite the beautiful picturesque Sligo Calvary is a dark tale saved by comedic timing. This is no advertisement for village living either despite the beautiful picturesque Sligo surroundings. Every villager is seriously disturbed or unlikable in one manner or another, including Father James who is having his own existential crisis. The script is beautiful and delivered in typical Irish style,eloquent and articulate yet plain and vulgar all in the same sentence. Dark gallows humour is ever present and necessary. Calvary would fail without it. There is a mystery plot too which is gripping enough. The minuses are characters feel a tad cliched, clerical abuse is a drab subject matter and there is a McGuffin involving the dog which was a bit stupid, Otherwise very well done. … Expand

A few days of life of a Catholic priest in a small Irish town.
I have no idea who would classify this movie as a comedy. It is a very serious A few days of life of a Catholic priest in a small Irish town.
I have no idea who would classify this movie as a comedy. It is a very serious (if not depressing) drama.

Outstanding performance of a leading actor, Brendan Gleeson who plays Father James. Oscar caliber. … Expand

"Calvary" stars Brendan Gleeson and Chris O’Dowd in this strange film both written and directed by John Michael McDonagh, At the outset let me "Calvary" stars Brendan Gleeson and Chris O’Dowd in this strange film both written and directed by John Michael McDonagh, At the outset let me say that I am a huge Brendan Gleeson fan and appreciate and respect almost everything in which I’ve ever seen him perform. He did not disappoint me in this film but, like watching a race car unable to go more than 15 mph, Mr. Gleeson’s character is locked into a script that is lacking in both credibility and common sense. Also, either cut from the original film or the result of just poor writing. or both, there are many unexplained scene and location changes that befuddle the viewer as well as pose unanswered questions regarding significant events that take place in the movie. Throughout the film the viewer is put into a dry, slow and melancholy mood as one searches for the good film that is somewhere within the one that was actually released. I give the film a 7 with both kudos and regrets to Mr. Gleeson for becoming enmeshed in this project. … Expand

Brendan Gleeson’s portrayal of Father James, the tormented priest, is what saves this film from being a confusing morass of conflicting Brendan Gleeson’s portrayal of Father James, the tormented priest, is what saves this film from being a confusing morass of conflicting philosophies. Father James, a priest in a small countryside parish in Ireland, is haunted, lonely, and struggling with a number of demons. He still mourns his late wife, whose death drove him to become a priest; he has a disaffected relationship with his adult daughter (Kelly Reilly) who visits him after having recently attempted suicide; and he is a borderline alcoholic. His most intimate relationship is with Bruno, his dog.

The film starts out with Father James in the confession box. A parishioner, whom Father James recognizes by voice, confesses to him a long childhood history of being sexually abused by a priest, who is now deceased. The abuse went on for several years, involving a number of children, and caused a scandal that had been reported in the news long ago. The parishioner has a bizarre plan to rectify the injustice that he suffered—he wants to kill a priest, not an abusive priest, but a good priest like Father James, and he makes a date to meet him on the beach in a week.

Father James does not overreact, to say the least. He discusses the case with a superior, who tells him to report it to the police, but he is reluctant. He says he knows who the parishioner is, but he does not want to take impulsive action. During the week that transpires, which is marked day by day on the screen, Father James gives evidence of being deeply depressed, perhaps suicidal. In fact, the entire film is about death and suicide. The daughter visits him after a suicide attempt. Then Father James has to visit a prisoner who committed a grisly murder; the prisoner requests the death sentence even though there is no death sentence in Ireland. An elderly novelist who lives alone asks Father James to get him a gun, preferably a Walther PPK, so that when the time comes, he can kill himself rather than succumb to the frailties of dementia. Father James himself is suspiciously casual about the death threat he experienced in the confession box.

During the week, the priest has arguments and one fist fight with other villagers. He drinks himself silly. He tells off a lot of people. A rich villager offers him a dubious financial scheme, and insanely ends up urinating on a classic masterpiece that he owns. The only point taken is that the millionaire is mentally ill. Father James goes to the police inspector to talk, but the police inspector is distracted by his young, gay lover with the thick New York City accent, who is so hyperactive that he clearly is suffering from mental problems as well. A young wife in the village is promiscuous and currently cheating on her husband with an African car mechanic. She doesn’t check in as being completely normal either.

The most depressing part of the job is administering last rites, which Father James says is never easy, although with the aged, “it’s not any easier but it’s more understandable.” At the hospital, he is called in to give last rites to an accident victim. The Emerg doctor (Aidan Gillen) is smoking outside the building; he is jaded, callous, and militantly atheistic. He tells the priest, “I know the atheistic doctor is a cliché.” In short, there’s not one pollyanna to be found in the entire village. And during that troublesome week, the priest’s church is burned down by an arsonist, and someone viciously kills Bruno, presumably the same villager who wants to kill the priest on Sunday. In one last phone call to his daughter, Father James declares what he says is the hardest part of humanity—forgiveness.

This film isn’t about faith, more like using faith to escape reality, and even then, faith is not very effective. Father James only becomes a priest to escape the pain of widowhood, and he continues to drink himself into oblivion. And he never officially reports the death threat delivered in the confession box, for apparently, it’s a sin for a priest to commit suicide, but it’s not a sin if someone volunteers their services and does the dirty work for him. In the end, there’s no redemption for the believer or the atheist, just a glimmer of hope for those who can forgive. … Expand

Full of failed metaphors and a "morale" that dates back before the Age of Enlightenment, this "Come Visit Ireland"-Advertisement is about as Full of failed metaphors and a "morale" that dates back before the Age of Enlightenment, this "Come Visit Ireland"-Advertisement is about as "funny" as "Schindler's List".
Most of the characters are simply blunt caricatures of the same cynical archetype, while the message of the movie is a simple "without faith in the catholic church, all goes to hell". Yes, the lead actor does indeed perform amazingly well, but he cannot make up for the terribly poor story and the failed attempts of modern day parallels to a passing through Gethsemane.
The gruesome and forcibly deliberate end has about the meaning and depth of the summed-up "diligence and wisdom" Kim Bauer in the second Season of "24".

My only conclusion to the high ratings of other critics is, that they are an attempt to give some meaning and over-interpretation to what they witnessed - and to avoid facing the fact, that they have just suffered the irreversible theft of 90 Minutes of precious life time. … Expand