Film

The Legend of Barney Thomson

A Glasgow barber stumbles into a serial killer investigation when a corpse turns up in his salon. Dark comedy-drama that finds genuine pathos in small-town ordinariness colliding with violent absurdity. Robert Carlyle gives Barney a hangdog dignity that makes the premise work. Uneven but memorable, with real laughs buried in the gloom.

TMDb rating3.1

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy deadpan black comedy about a meek little man whose dull life tilts into absurd violence, and you like your gallows humour delivered with a flat Glaswegian shrug.

Skip it if you need propulsive plotting, since this one ambles, lingers on awkward silences and prefers mood to momentum, and its sharpest jokes can feel mean-spirited.

What it asks of you: It runs a brisk ninety-six minutes but spends its early stretch in a drab, quiet register, so you have to be willing to sit with the dullness before the absurdity takes hold.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

In Bruges2008

Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson as hitmen hiding in a medieval city. Pitch-black comedy about morality and regret, balancing murder and philosophy with surprising tenderness and laugh-out-loud moments.

But Extremely violent and profane. The tonal shifts from funny to devastating can feel jarring if you're not attuned to that wavelength.

In Bruges poster

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri2017

Frances McDormand demands justice for her daughter's unsolved murder while feuding with a small-town police force. Darkly comic, morally complicated, and propelled by brilliant performances and a genuinely surprising script.

But Slow-burn character study that resists easy answers. Some will find it meandering; others will think the ending lets terrible people off too lightly.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri poster

Tucker and Dale vs. Evil2010

Two affable hillbillies are mistaken for killers by college kids in the woods. A genre-subversion comedy that's genuinely clever, darkly funny, and far more humane than it has any right to be.

But If you don't enjoy horror-comedy or find the premise thin, the film has nowhere else to go. Gore is frequent, though mostly played for laughs.

Tucker and Dale vs. Evil poster

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Legend of Barney Thomson

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Shallow Grave1994

Both are Scottish crime stories that weaponize awkward ordinariness as the entry point to something grotesque. Boyle's film is the template Barney Thomson can't quite live up to.

Danny Boyle's debut follows three Edinburgh flatmates who discover a corpse in their spare room and decide to keep the money. Grimy, energetic, darkly funny, and genuinely tense—a film that builds to something genuinely unsettling beneath the gallows humor.

But Dated early-90s style and posturing. The violence is sudden and unflinching, and the bleakness won't lighten no matter how hard you laugh.

Shallow Grave poster
More like this (7)

Four Lions2010

Chris Morris's comedy about incompetent British jihadis. Audacious, hilarious, and grounded in real character work that makes these men human without excusing them. A masterclass in dark comedy with stakes.

But The subject matter is genuinely disturbing. Asking an audience to laugh at terrorism takes a very specific stomach and trust in the filmmaker's intent.

Four Lions poster

The Death of Stalin2017

Armando Iannucci's black-and-white Soviet political farce. Brilliant ensemble cast, genuinely funny, and makes a tragic historical moment feel urgent and absurd. Satirical without ever feeling smug.

But Soviet politics and bureaucratic infighting may feel remote. Deliberately crude language and scatological humor won't appeal to everyone.

The Death of Stalin poster

A Fish Called Wanda1988

Heist comedy with Kevin Kline, Jamie Lee Curtis, and John Cleese. Perfectly balanced between slapstick and character work, with genuine danger lurking beneath the laughs and romance where you'd least expect it.

But Dated in some respects, and the humor occasionally tips into territory that would raise eyebrows today. Pacing can feel erratic if you're watching for plot alone.

A Fish Called Wanda poster

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang2005

Robert Downey Jr. as a failed actor caught up in Hollywood murder. Shane Black's script crackles with dialogue, and the film finds genuine warmth beneath its cynicism and violence. Hugely entertaining.

But Aggressively quippy and self-conscious in a way that exhausts some viewers. Plot takes a backseat to style, which won't work for everyone.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang poster

The Guard2011

Brendan Gleeson as an Irish policeman who bonds with an FBI agent over philosophy and racism. A quieter film about connection and unlikely friendship, funny and surprisingly moving without being sentimental.

But Very slow and deliberately low-key. If you need plot momentum or broad comedy, this rural, conversational film will bore you.

The Guard poster

Eating Raoul1982

Both find comedy in ordinary people committing murders with no particular enthusiasm for the work itself. But where Barney is dragged into chaos, Raoul's couple are entrepreneurs. The contrast matters.

A prudish married couple kill swingers for profit. Absurdist comedy that treats murder as a perfectly logical business opportunity. Weird, hilarious, and morally unhinged in a way that feels almost innocent.

But Extremely strange and defiantly low-budget. If you need conventional character arcs or emotional through-lines, this will feel like watching people cosplay in a fever dream.

Eating Raoul poster

The Ladykillers1955

The same DNA: murderers who are less frightening than farcical, undone by circumstance and their own limitations. Barney Thomson reaches for Ealing's tone but doesn't find its grace note.

Ealing Studios masterpiece about five criminals posing as musicians in a landlady's house. Supremely funny, beautifully acted, and it invents the template for all comedies about incompetent villainy. A stone-cold classic.

But Very British, very mannered. If you need pace and broad laughs, the dryness of it all—even in its comedy—might feel creaky and slow.

The Ladykillers poster

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