Ably supported by a strong cast including Ray Winstone and a nearly unrecognisable Emma Thompson, there is certainly some directorial skill in [Robert] Carlyle's bones.

| Original Score: 7.5/10 | Nov 2, 2018

Carlyle achieves a consistent wry, shaggy dog tone that works on low-key terms. Fans of its stars will be pleased; fans of murder comedies have seen both better and worse.

| Original Score: B | Nov 1, 2018

Making stylish use of its Glasgow locations, Carlyle's black farce about a serial killer moseys along in fine enough fashion, but it suffers from a fatal lack of laughs.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Aug 23, 2018

Whilst the ending is rather silly and possibly too neat, it is a rather enjoyable film so bring your blackest humour to watch this.

| Aug 22, 2018

The Legend of Barney Thomson has a few redeeming features scattered throughout, but for Carlyle it's much too bland and undefined.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Aug 13, 2018

The film's final showdown may be stylised and as ludicrous as they come, but by then we've become caught up in Barney Thompson's endearing, exaggerated lunacy.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 22, 2017

Robert Carlyle makes his directorial debut with The Legend Of Barney Thomson and a decent job he makes of it too.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 30, 2017

There may be no improvement of the human condition to be found here, but there's a pervasive solidarity - like a ratty sofa whose dilapidation is inseparable from its coziness.

| Nov 7, 2016

Above all you have Emma Thompson delivering an infernal and hilarious performance that steals the (rotten) heart of the movie. [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Jun 16, 2016

Thompson steals her scenes and provides many of the comic highlights, while the screenplay gradually becomes detached from reality and loses its emotional grip.

| Apr 1, 2016

Uneven dark comedy about a barber and a serial killer.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Mar 18, 2016

The movie's relentless grimness renders the characters into caricatures, each more miserably shallow than the last.

| Original Score: 5/10 | Mar 16, 2016

It's fine, and on occasion it even flirts with looney tune greatness, but mostly it's held back by predictability.

| Original Score: 6.1/10 | Mar 15, 2016

Over-the-top and irritating without being funny or clever enough. If only the audience were to have as much fun as the actors seemed to be having.

| Original Score: 4.5/10 | Mar 12, 2016

It's not entirely successful, but "Barney Thomson" enjoys a great deal of oddity.

| Original Score: B- | Mar 11, 2016

Scottish actor Robert Carlyle makes a bold impression as a first-time director with Barney Thomson, a brash, dirty little film that's eager to please in devilish ways.

| Original Score: B+ | Mar 10, 2016

Macabre comedy featuring Emma Thompson as a besotted (but somehow beloved) harridan should attract fans of cheeky British (er, Scottish) crime dramas.

| Mar 8, 2016

You don't have to be a Scot to laugh yourself silly at The Legend of Barney Thomson, although canny viewers will no doubt catch more of the inside references.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 4, 2016

Robert Carlyle is excellent as the lugubrious and downtrodden Barney, but as he makes his directorial debut here his rhythm on this deadpan comedy is erratic.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 4, 2016

Not as clever as it wants to be, some comic bits stumble and the ending is ridiculous, although Carlyle and Thompson give it their best shot.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Mar 3, 2016