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

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

Ray Winstone's irascible English copper all but blows steam out of his ears, and Ashley Jensen chews whatever scenery hasn't already been trampled.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jul 26, 2015

Robert Carlyle's directorial debut is a miserable, tone-deaf hash of black comic clichs.

| Original Score: 1/5 | Jul 24, 2015

Don't listen to the haters. Cross-border collaborations can work.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 24, 2015

Carlyle himself stars as a dangerously unhinged barber in a less-than-salubrious salon and Emma Thompson plays his equally terrifying mother in a fake leopard coat.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 23, 2015

Merrily gruesome black comedy.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 23, 2015

This is pulp with the seeds left in, and you'll be picking them from between your teeth for weeks.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 23, 2015

It just monotonously drones on.

| Jul 23, 2015

Robert Carlyle makes a capable directorial debut, serving up this chaotically brutal comedy noir with some very broad gags.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 23, 2015

If you grew up south of Gretna Green, bribe a Scot to translate the thick Glaswegian accents in Robert Carlyle's grisly serial killer comedy.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 20, 2015